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Tokyo pimping service ensnared in prostitution probe

The head of a service illegally provided women to bathhouse Crystal Tokyo in Mito City, Ibaraki Prefecture
The head of a service illegally provided women to bathhouse Crystal Tokyo in Mito City, Ibaraki Prefecture

TOKYO (TR) – As a part of a nationwide crackdown on prostitution, Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested the head of a service operating in Tokyo’s Ikebukuro district that supplies women to sex parlors, reports Sankei Sports (Feb. 3).

Police took Ryuta Aratani, the 27-year-old head of the group SSC, into custody for violating employment laws regarding harmful business introductions.

Aratani has been specifically charged with illegally supplying a woman to soapland bathhouse Crystal Tokyo, located in Mito City, Ibaraki Prefecture, in July of last year. Four other participants in the crime were also cited by police.

The 20 members in SSC patrol the area near JR Ikebukuro Station in search of women interested in entering the fuzoku industry, meaning the commercial sex trade.

Over a two-year period, the group has staffed 105 parlors in 16 administrative districts of Japan with approximately 600 women. Since 2014, the group has collected 700 million yen in revenue.

On January 30 and 31, seven employees at three soapland businesses in Akita, Ibaraki and Fukushima prefectures that received women via SSC were charged with violating the Anti-Prostitution Law. During the investigation of that case, the crimes allegedly committed by Aratani and the other suspects emerged.