[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] A coalition organization of prostitution establishments involving organized crime members and court officials has been arrested in large numbers by the police. The total number of people caught by the police, including operators involved in the organization, prostitutes, and clients, amounts to 122.
On the 25th, the Busan Police Agency announced that they had arrested three people, including Mr. A (male, in his 30s), who operated prostitution advertising sites, and 27 others, including Mr. B (male, in his 30s), who ran prostitution establishments in the Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam areas.
The police arrested a total of 30 people involved in the operation, of whom seven were detained.
According to the police, Mr. A and two others created prostitution advertising sites from March last year until last September and received over 1.1 billion KRW in advertising fees from prostitution establishments.
Composed of one organized crime member and a program developer, they hosted servers overseas and used burner phones and fake bank accounts to evade police investigations.
The police tracked financial accounts to arrest them, seized approximately 140 million KRW in criminal proceeds, and shut down the prostitution advertising sites they operated.
Mr. B and 27 others operated 25 prostitution establishments in Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam during the same period, facilitating over 8,800 prostitution transactions through the advertising sites run by Mr. A and others, earning about 700 million KRW.
The group, which included two organized crime members and a court official (male, in his 30s), was found to have shared information about police crackdowns.
They reportedly formed a coalition among prostitution establishments to prevent prostitutes from leaving.
They used violence against operators in other regions, confined and assaulted women in prostitution establishments, and committed sexual violence. They even falsely accused clients involved in disputes during prostitution of rape.
The police confiscated 150 million KRW in criminal proceeds from them and filed charges against the court official involved in the operation of prostitution establishments.
So far, the police have booked a total of 92 people, including 54 prostitutes and 38 clients, and are expanding their investigation.
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