Tokyo police have arrested 23 men for allegedly pimping female employees at sex entertainment shops – the largest number of arrests in a single crackdown.
Masaki Tooka, a 51-year-old business executive from the city of Fukuoka, and 22 others were arrested in violation of the anti-prostitution law, the Metropolitan Police Department said.
Tooka and ten others have acknowledged the allegations, while the remaining twelve have denied them.
According to investigators, a group involving Tooka had operated four such outlets in Tokyo, including in Gotanda and Shimbashi districts, and sent female employees to meet customers at the location of their choice. It had brought in at least ¥1.2 billion ($7.6 million) in annual sales.
The group operated by constantly changing the names of its outlets. Of the 23 arrested, police identified Tooka and another person as supervisors of the operation, while three were store managers. The remaining 18 were their employees.
Tooka was arrested on suspicion of sending women in their 20s to have sex with three male clients aged between 40 and 50 at a hotel in Tokyo’s Shinagawa district between April and May.
Police first became aware of the group last year when they arrested a woman in the Kabukicho district of Shinjuku Ward who had been waiting for a client to have sex with. The woman told investigators she worked at an outlet operated by Tooka.
Translated by The Japan Times
