24th September 2026 – (Hong Kong) Macao authorities said today they have dismantled a cross‑border prostitution syndicate in a joint investigation with counterparts in Guangdong, arresting 77 people yesterday. Of those, 31 were detained in Macao, including 16 alleged syndicate members led by a 39‑year‑old mainland Chinese woman surnamed Yi, and a 40‑year‑old Hong Kong woman suspected of acting as a procurer. Officials estimate the group has handled about HK$5.3 million since March, and the 16 alleged members have been handed to the Public Prosecutions Office on suspicion of being part of a criminal organisation and of controlling prostitution.
Among those held in Macao were six men and eight women known locally as “freelance touts”, aged between 24 and 45, all said to be mainland or Hong Kong residents who entered as visitors. A 37‑year‑old Nepalese non‑resident worker, a hotel security guard surnamed Kunwar, was also arrested on suspicion of leaking internal hotel information to the syndicate and issuing alerts to help them evade inspections.
Investigators said Ms Yi created an online solicitation group to recruit women from the mainland to work in Macao and charged an “entry fee”. She also enlisted touts to canvass clients around hotels, coordinated the movement of sex workers and arranged line‑ups for customer selection. The syndicate allegedly set standard fees of HK$1,000 to HK$2,500 per session and fixed a minimum service price for each woman; any amount above that floor was subject to an 88 per cent cut for the tout as commission. Core members were said to profit by charging each worker 200 yuan every seven days to remain in the group. Authorities believe the operation began at least in March and had about 300 group participants at the time of the crackdown.
The Macao force received a tip‑off in July about an online recruitment network and, after analysis, notified mainland police. A joint taskforce was formed and, yesterday, both sides launched “Monsoon” simultaneously. In Macao, officers intercepted 16 alleged syndicate members outside multiple hotels in the Cotai area and detained 11 sex workers aged 20 to 40 and four clients in Taipa. On the mainland, arrests were made in Zhuhai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Foshan and Zhongshan, where 31 alleged members and 15 women suspected of having worked in Macao were taken into custody, including a 39‑year‑old Macao woman surnamed Rao who allegedly helped manage the online group.
Police seized lingerie, condoms and multiple mobile phones, along with HK$45,000 and 2,000 yuan in cash. Investigators said the syndicate showed clear counter‑surveillance methods, instructing members and sex workers to delete chat records regularly, allegedly bribing a hotel security employee for information on patrols and using group chats to flag police vehicles or inspection activity in real time. Authorities said the operation remains under way.