Tokyo cops round up 25 in crackdown on foreign women tricked into prostitution

TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested more than 20 persons as a part of a crackdown on an operation that deceived women from overseas into serving as prostitutes, reports Fuji News Network (Nov. 29).

In September, Ramun Suzuki, a 38-year-old Thai national, allegedly put a fellow countrywoman to work at a sex parlor in Hachioji City without proper authorization from the Immigration Bureau. Police also arrested the manager of the parlor, 71, and 23 other persons in the case.

According to police, Suzuki recruited women to come to Japan from Thailand by telling them that they could earn incomes as masseuses. However, upon arrival the Thai women were burdened with a debt of 2 million yen to cover supposed transportation costs.

After the passports of the women were seized, the women were coerced into serving as prostitutes, police said.

The investigation into details of the operation is ongoing, police said.