A joint operation between the Singapore Police Force (SPF) and the Royal Thai Police (RTP) has led to the arrest of three men suspected of operating a transnational vice syndicate that recruited foreign women for prostitution in Singapore.
The suspects—two Singaporean men aged 38 and 36, and a 50-year-old Thai man—were arrested in Thailand on June 17, 2025 for their alleged involvement in operating a transnational vice syndicate.
Investigations began in 2023, during which the SPF conducted several anti-vice operations. Between April 2023 and May 2025, at least 76 foreign women allegedly working under the syndicate’s control were arrested in Singapore under the Women’s Charter 1961.
Investigations against the vice workers established useful information against the vice syndicate.
Officers from the Specialised Crime Branch of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Singapore Police Force (SPF) worked in close partnership with their counterparts from the Technology Crime Suppression Division of the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of the Royal Thai Police (RTP) to exchange intelligence on the syndicate’s operations. Through their joint efforts, the identities of three key members of the vice syndicate were uncovered. The 38-year-old Singaporean suspect is believed to have managed a sophisticated network of bank accounts to transfer proceeds from prostitution in Singapore to Thailand, while the 36-year-old Singaporean allegedly played a supporting role in facilitating the syndicate’s cross-border activities.
In the coordinated raid on June 17, Thai police seized assets worth over 20 million baht (approximately S$790,000), including bank deposits, two condominiums, laptops, mobile phones, hard drives, bank cards, and SIM cards. Meanwhile, in Singapore, the SPF froze more than S$1.26 million in suspected criminal proceeds from the 38-year-old suspect’s local bank accounts. Investigations are ongoing.
Senior Assistant Commissioner Yeo Yee Chuan, Deputy Director of CID, commended the operation and highlighted the importance of international cooperation in tackling cross-border crime. “The SPF is committed to working closely with our regional partners, and we thank the RTP for their invaluable collaboration in dismantling this criminal network,” he said. “We remain relentless in our pursuit of transnational syndicates and will continue to hunt them down wherever they are.”
Echoing these sentiments, Police Lieutenant General Jirabhop Bhuridej, Commissioner of the CIB, praised the professionalism and coordination between both forces. “This successful operation underscores the critical role of international cooperation in dismantling criminal networks that threaten the safety and security of our societies,” he said. “We remain committed to strengthening our collaboration with the SPF and other global partners.”
Both the SPF and RTP reaffirmed their commitment to continued collaboration in the fight against transnational crime, vowing to protect communities and bring offenders to justice.
