Police in Spain's northeastern region of Catalonia say they have arrested 25 suspected members of a Chinese criminal gang and freed 22 Chinese women who had been forced to work as prostitutes for it.

A regional police statement said Wednesday the Fujian gang, named after the Chinese province from which most of its members come, operated prostitution and drug rackets out of apartments in and around the Catalan capital, Barcelona, where the arrests were made April 10.

It said the women were brought into Spain with false identity documents and had run up debts to the gang of up to 15,000 euros ($16,000).

A judge provisionally jailed 11 of the 25 and released the rest with provisional charges after confiscating their passports.