POLICE ARREST 2,878 PROSTITUTES FROM JAN TO MARCH 15

KUALA LUMPUR, March 21 (Bernama) -- From January to March 15, police have managed to arrest 2,878 prostitutes, mostly foreigners, through 2,419 raids.

From the total, 2,144 were foreigners, with those from China topping the
list with 1,030, followed by Indonesia (387), Thailand (237), Vietnam (222) and
the Philippines (188).

"Most of the women, in their 20s, had been duped by unscrupulous agents who
promised them jobs as maids or in factories but ended up working as prostitutes,
drug traffickers or guest relation officers (GRO) in night clubs," Bukit Aman
CID Director Mohd Bakri Zinin told reporters here Friday.

He added that from October to December last year, 12,070 prostitutes were
arrested, of which 8,949 were foreigners, comprising 4,496 from China followed
by Indonesia (1,389), Thailand (1,049), Philippines (1,090) and Vietnam (512).

Mohd Bakri added that police were always serious in curbing the flesh trade
and continuously worked with agencies like Maritime, Immigration and Customs.
--BERNAMA