The city police yesterday said that they have detained a young Russian, Prokofeva Elena, 28, identified as the ringleader of a sex work ring involving foreign women. This is the first time HCMC police have unearthed a prostitution ring involved in foreign women includign the ringleader and sex workers.
Prokofeva Elena was arrested for further investigation.
According to her statement at police station, Prokoffva Elena entered Vietnam in 2015 to travel in the central City of Da Nang, Hanoi, HCMC, the Mekong delta City of Can Tho.
While on her trips, she found out many Vietnamese and foreign men are in need of sex; accordingly, it gave her an idea of setting up a sex ring of girls from Ukraine and Russia.
She marketed the ring in social networks to attract customers. Once, customers have demand, she got foreign women to come to Vietnam for sex work. She managed five to ten women.
Specifically, sex workers charged clients for VND6 million ($258) per hour, VND10 million for five hours and VND20 million ($862) a day. The deals were brokered by Elena.
Before, through inquiry, HCMC police discovered a sex ring led by a foreigner so police officers have carried out further investigation. Policemen simultaneously raided hotels in Calmette and Nguyen Thi Minh Khai streets in downtown Districts 1 and 3, and discovered four foreign women, two from Ukraine and two from Russia, having sex with Vietnamese customers on January 22.
Through sex workers, police have detained ringleader Prokoffva Elena, 28 in a luxury apartment in district 2 who told the police that she had been running the prostitution ring for more than a month.
