Women recruited from Thailand were allegedly required to provide 30 to 45 sexual services without payment before they could share earnings with a group, Hong Kong police said. The group had paid their travel and accommodation costs, police said, and the women then had to split prostitution income with it on a 50-50 basis. Police said the unpaid-service period left the women under the group’s control when they first arrived.
The group allegedly operated from three subdivided flats in Sham Shui Po and Tsuen Wan. Women put all or half of their cash earnings into envelopes at designated locations for group members to collect. Reports said a service cost HK$300 for about 30 minutes, and each woman saw about eight to nine clients a day.
Police said suspected members deposited cash into bank accounts held by other members and sent money to Thailand through money changers. A senior Sham Shui Po District investigator said accounts believed to be linked to the group had handled about HK$10 million in suspected criminal proceeds over several years. Police reported seizing about HK$100,000 in cash and freezing suspected proceeds of about HK$10 million.
Sham Shui Po District police began investigating in June 2026 after officers noticed similarities in the backgrounds, arrival patterns and activity areas of women encountered during prostitution enforcement. On October 10, police said, suspected group members brought two women from the airport to the flats. Officers then arrested 20 people in Sham Shui Po, Tsuen Wan, Tuen Mun, Yuen Long and Sha Tin: four alleged core members and 16 people described as sex workers. The operation ran until October 12, according to Ming Pao.
Two alleged core members had been charged by October 13 and appeared at West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts. One faced a charge of trafficking people into or out of Hong Kong; the other was charged with living on another person’s prostitution earnings. Ming Pao reported that police planned to charge 16 of the other 18 detainees with breaching their conditions of stay and bring them to court on October 14. The remaining two were expected to be released on bail pending investigation.