OSAKA (TR) – Osaka Prefectural Police have busted a prostitution ring that trafficked teenage girls to customers around the nation, it was announced on Thursday, reports the Sankei Shimbun (June 16).
Police arrested Takayuki Miura, 55, and three other male and female persons for allegedly using two vehicle to deliver three teenage prostitutes, aged between 15 and 17, to customers across the nation, including in Osaka and Tokyo.
Miura, who has been charged with brokering prostitution, denies the charges. “I did not partake in it,” the suspect is quoted by the Minami Police Station.
The ring was revealed to police last month. At approximately 6:00 p.m. on May 17, a 19-year-old prostitute exiting a hotel in Osaka’s Chuo Ward was questioned by an officer. The woman, who had just served a customer, told the officer that she was “living in an apartment where I’m being forced into prostitution.”
On May 18, police searched the apartment and seized customer records and mobile phones. At the time, Miura had evaded capture. He continued to broker prostitution until he was apprehended in Yokohama earlier this week.
