Tan Boon Kheng, 58-years-old, was sentenced on 11 August to 15 months imprisonment after pleading guilty to 5 charges, mostly under the women’s charter.
4 more charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.
He had reportedly helped to run a vice ring in Singapore, with up to 9 thai prostitutes under him, of whom he helped to arrange their accommodation as well as earring from their sex work.
Tan joined the vice trade in 2018 through a man known as Ah Beng.
Ah Beng told him that he could earn from the prostitution of the Thai women in Singapore that he knew.
Tan then agreed and paid Ah Beng $300 for each of the 9 prostitutes that he received, as a “recommendation fee”.
Tan then signed a tenancy agreement and paid $1,900 along with Ng Hock Soon, 66 (the co-accused) for the first month rental of an apartment to house the prostitutes.
Tan was informed in July 2018 that business was slow, so he went to check out the situation at Geylang.
He noticed high human traffic and saw a lodging house, which he rented afterwards, telling his girls to provide sexual services there.
Tan then received 2 Thai sex workers at Golden Mile Complex after they arrived in Singapore, before bringing them to their accommodation.
He took their passports and told them that they had to fulfill their contracts before he’d return it back to them.
They also had to give him $1,200 each before he returned their passports back to them, which is to “deter” them from fleeing.
Tan paid for their transport cost from Thailand to Singapore.
The Singapore Police’s specialised crime branch and street walker task force raided their place in Geylang on September 2018 and arrested 4 women.
2 of them were the aforementioned girls that Tan had hired, alongside a man (another co-accused) who had more than $3,600 in cash on him.
Tan was then arrested at Woodlands Checkpoint and had his phone seized, with the police conducting a follow up raid at other locations.
9 Thai passports were found.
Image source: malaysia-instinct (Images used for illustration purposes only)