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Ho Chi Minh City police break up prostitute ring involving models, singers

TUOI TRE NEWS
UPDATED : 10/19/2016 13:08 GMT + 7

Police in Ho Chi Minh City have discovered a prostitution ring involving several local models and singers.

The illegal operation led by Nguyen Thi Cam Giang, 25, from the Mekong Delta province of Bac Lieu, was broken up on October 13, the municipal Department of Police affirmed on Tuesday.

Giang and her accomplices, namely Mai Thien Trang, 25, Nguyen Hong Nhung, 22, and Luu Thi Truong Thanh, 24, have been arrested for brokering prostitution.

Officers also arrested 28 people and confiscated evidence after carrying out administrative checks on four hotels in District 3, 10, Tan Binh District, and Binh Chanh District.

Preliminary information showed that Giang was previously a contestant of a singing competition, held in the Mekong Delta province of Vinh Long this year, and currently worked at a restaurant in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City.

According to the suspect’s statement, she started the prostitution ring in 2015, which mainly offered the services of female servers of karaoke bars in the city centre with prices ranging from US$200 to $500 per session.

Giang would receive between VND500,000 ($22.1) and VND2 million ($88.7) whenever she made a deal with a client.

The woman claimed that she had also introduced several models and singers to her customers, earning between VND500,000 to VND5 million ($221) per deal.

The offender was caught red handed receiving her commission after arranging two sex workers for two of her clients at a hotel in District 3.

Trang, Giang’s accomplice, was previously a winner of a local beauty pageant in 2012, stating that she had been one of the prostitutes in the illegal ring before becoming a sex broker over a month ago.

Similarly to Giang, she received about VND3 million ($133) from each of her sex workers after they were paid VND7 million ($310) per session.

Meanwhile, Nhung and Thanh claimed that they had been selling sex and arranging deals between other prostitutes and their customers.

An initial investigation also revealed that Giang’s illicit organization also provided ‘sex tours,’ which included a weekend vacation with the prostitutes for between VND20 million ($887) and VND30 million ($1,330) per trip.

Two of the sex workers detained at the police station had tested positive to drugs, officers added.