PETALING JAYA: A prostitution syndicate operating under the guise of men’s grooming services was dismantled following two coordinated raids by the Immigration Department in Kuchai Lama and Bandar Sri Petaling on May 26.
Immigration director-general Datuk Zakaria Shaaban said a total of 59 individuals were inspected during the operation, including three men, 45 foreign women and 11 local citizens.
The raids, which began at 6pm, were conducted by 38 enforcement officers from the Putrajaya Immigration Enforcement Division after two weeks of surveillance.
The department found that the foreign women, who had been operating in the area for the past two years, earned up to RM1,500 per day by providing sexual services to both local and foreign male clients.
“Three foreign men and 45 foreign women from Vietnam, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Laos, aged between 23 and 35, were detained for various offences. Also detained were three local men suspected of acting as ‘guardians’,” he said in a statement issued Tuesday night.
The detainees are being investigated for offences under the Immigration Act 1959/63, the Passport Act 1966 and the Immigration Regulations 1963.
They are currently being held at the Bukit Jalil Immigration Depot pending further action.
Zakaria revealed that the syndicate’s modus operandi involved promoting grooming and facial treatment services for men while discreetly offering sexual services as part of the packages.
Customers would book appointments via the WeChat messaging app, through which they were also provided with a catalogue of available foreign women.
Each session reportedly cost between RM150 and RM250, depending on the type of service selected.
“The premises operated daily from 3pm to 2am. All the foreign women involved in the illegal activities were housed on-site, where dormitory-style rooms had been set up to accommodate them.”
During the raids, investigators caught several of the women serving customers.
