Vice in the heartlands: 4 women arrested for suspected prostitution in Bukit Batok, Choa Chu Kang flats

Two HDB flats in the quiet neighbourhoods of Bukit Batok and Choa Chu Kang hid a shocking secret.

They were allegedly being used by tenants to offer sexual services, which were promoted and arranged via online messaging apps.

In an operation that took place on Dec 5, officers from the Jurong Police Division raided the two units simultaneously.

AsiaOne was among the media invited to visit the two scenes, where officers arrested four suspects and found various items such as baby oil, wet wipes as well as a stash of condoms.

The police were alerted to suspicious activity in these units via multiple calls and reports.

At the first flat, located along Choa Chu Kang Street 52, a surveillance camera was concealed in a shoebox placed on a rack outside the flat.

Upon entering the unit, two female suspects were seen sitting on the sofa in the living room, hunched over and covering their faces.

When one of them peered over her hands to look at the media, her eyes were red.

Various items were laid out on the coffee table in front of the women, including their mobile phones and passports.

AsiaOne observed that text messages displayed on the mobile phones appeared to be correspondence with alleged clients who were soliciting sexual services and that the suspects were supposedly foreigners.

In one of the three bedrooms in the flat, a used condom was lying on the floor beside a wastepaper basket.

In another bedroom, two single-sized beds were placed on opposite ends of the room with bedsheets of animated characters, a stark contrast to the alleged activities that took place there.

Thick, dark curtains covered the windows of all rooms.

Price list and client schedule found

Meanwhile, the flat at Bukit Batok Street 24 had a camera hidden in a false electrical box installed beside its entrance.

Inside the flat, another two women were seated at the dining table which was filled with various food items.

These two suspects seemed more calm, with one of them even looking up and locking eyes with members of the media.

AsiaOne also saw a notepad with what appeared to be a price list for services and a client schedule on the dining table.

Behind them was a fully-stocked kitchen and three bedrooms, two of which were allegedly used to provide sexual services.

Both rooms had queen-sized beds with towels laid out on them, alongside packets of tissue or wet wipes.

In one of the rooms, bottles of massage and baby oil as well as personal lubricants were seen on the nightstand.

Another room had a box full of cups used for the traditional Chinese medicinal practice of cupping.

All four women, aged between 36 and 46, were arrested under the Women's Charter for remote communication used to offer or facilitate the provision of sexual services.

The items found in the two flats as well as the records of earnings were also seized for investigations.

Speaking to the media, Jurong Police Division Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police Jerald Tan commented on the arrests that day.

"The police will continue to work with other government agencies to clamp down on unlawful activities in our heartlands," he said.

"Offenders will be dealt with strictly and in accordance with the law."

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Month-long enforcement blitz in Singapore

This operation was part of a month-long enforcement blitz across Singapore that was conducted from Nov 16 to Dec 15 by the police and various government agencies such as the Central Narcotics Bureau and Singapore Civil Defence Force.

A total of 1,257 men and 616 women, aged between 15 and 85, are being investigated for various offences, the police stated in a media release on Saturday (Dec 21).

Over 2,600 officers from all seven Police Land Divisions were deployed across more than 1,180 operations. Officers also conducted checks on over 13,200 people, of which 610 were arrested.

This enforcement blitz included an operation held from Nov 25 to Nov 30, which targeted illicit activities at massage establishments, public entertainment outlets, private residences and hotels in Chinatown, Little India, Boat Quay and Bugis.

A total of 54 men and 140 women, aged between 18 and 72, were arrested for various offences and five public entertainment outlets were found to have breached licensing conditions.

During the operation, the police also raided a shophouse in Little India for vice activities and arrested seven men, aged between 23 and 61, under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act 1990.

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bhavya.rawat@asiaone.com