SEATTLE – Nine people were arrested Thursday following a two-year investigation into an international sex-trafficking ring that involved smuggling Asian women into this country in shipping containers, federal and local authorities said.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Seattle said the “highly organized national network prostitution ring” illegally brought women here from China, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan and Laos.
Seven of the conspirators were arrested Thursday in Seattle, and two were arrested in Los Angeles, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney’s office.
All were charged Thursday in U.S. District Court here. Eight are accused of conspiracy to transport individuals in furtherance of prostitution and conspiracy to transport and harbor illegal aliens. Four also are charged with conspiracy to engage in money laundering. A ninth person is charged with conspiracy to transport individuals in furtherance of prostitution.
If convicted, they face up to 20 years in prison.
Details on the prostitution ring surfaced in April 2004, when the Eastside Narcotics Task Force raided the Apple Spa in Bellevue after determining it was a front for prostitution, federal officials said.
Investigators with the FBI, U.S. Customs and Enforcement, and Seattle police spent the next 21 months using confidential informants, court-approved wiretaps and global positioning satellite units to identify participants in the larger operation.
According to court documents, Yong Jun Kang, 36, of Seattle operated brothels in Portland, Ore., and Seattle, where he and others would bring Asian women, most of whom were in the United States illegally.
After 10 to 14 days, the women would be taken to brothels in other cities, investigators said.
In conversations with confidential informants, Kang said women were being smuggled into the U.S. in shipping containers after paying as much as $50,000. Some of the women, investigators said, were brought into the United States by crossing the Canadian border.
The women were forced to pay debts to smugglers by working in brothels, the U.S. attorney’s office said.
Others accused in the operation are Zhenhua Liu, 51, of Seattle and Penquan Xie, 48, and Zhen Qu, 49, both of Los Angeles, who court documents say worked for Kang as brothel managers. Lianchen Ning, 47, of Seattle is accused of transporting women between brothels and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
Rujng Jiang, 36, and her husband, Keshing Zhu, 38, both of Seattle, are accused of operating an escort service in Seattle as a front for prostitution.
Also arrested were Thongyot Liamurai, 39, of Seattle, identified as a prostitute for both Kang and Zhu and a close confidante of Kang’s, and Bing Wang, identified as a manager at Liu’s brothel.
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