(Photo: ifeng.com)

Recently, police officers from the Baishan branch in South China's Guangdong Province toppled a major gang that was running a trans-regional human trafficking and prostitution ring – arresting 20 suspects and rescuing 16 abducted girls, according to ifeng.com.

The gang had dealings in Guangdong Province and Macao, according to the police. One of the gang’s former prostitutes helped provide police with various information and she started cooperating with police after she was viciously beaten by the gang.

With the woman’s help, police were able to identify two suspects with the surnames Tao and Zhou, as leaders of the gang.

Zhou and his organized criminal gang is believed to have been active in Macao since 2016. The criminal gang consists of 11 members and profited mainly by abducting young girls and forcing them to become prostitutes.

“We normally choose girls of the right age coming from impoverished areas because most of them are lack of social experience and do not have any awareness of self-protection,” Zhou said.

According to the police, some of the abducted girls are minors.

Members of the gang would first start dating a girl and use marriage as an excuse to lead them away from their homes.

At first, girls are brought to Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, a city close to Macao, where they are treated nicely and even given clothes from shopping malls. Then, their abductors tell them that they need to start earning money to pay for their lifestyles by becoming prostitutes.

By this time, it is already too late for the abducted girls to go back home.

After forcing the girls into prostitution, the gang members even get passports for the girls to allow them to enter Macao. However, the gang members also withhold items like cellphones and passports to ensure that the girls cannot escape.

The girls are required to service at least three clients every day and charge roughly 1,000 – 3,000 yuan for a single session. At the end of the day, the girls give their money to the gang leaders.

The gang regularly comes to Macao for their prostitution business. Due to entry regulations, they are only allowed to stay for seven days each visit. According to the police, the gang’s prostitution ring typically brought in more than 1 million yuan over the span of one visit.

In May, Zhou and 10 other suspects were caught in different residential buildings during the operation in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province. This marked the complete collapse of the prostitution ring between Zhuhai and Macao and the destruction of the criminal gang.

Even with the collapse of the gang, police said their investigation is ongoing.