The website directory offered a comprehensive guide to the city's sex trade and solicited prostitutes who often came from outside Hong Kong, they said. The website sex Prostitution is legal in the southern Chinese semi-autonomous city, but soliciting and living off the earnings of prostitutes are criminal offences. During a three-day crackdown that started on Tuesday and involved the city's anti-triad organised crime gangs unit, various locations were raided, including homes and offices.
Police said the prostitutes, mainly from the mainland, had been arrested for charges such as overstaying or breaching the conditions of their visitor visa. He said the operators of the website would be charged with money-laundering and living off earnings of prostitutes.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of sex workers ply their trade in one-room brothels, hotel rooms, saunas and bars throughout the city of seven million.
Some operate independently but many, especially those from mainland China, are controlled by the city's notorious triads.
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