South Korean Son Teaheum is questioned at a HCMC police station. Photo by VnExpress/Nhat Vy
HCMC police arrested a South Korean man after a raid on his District 7 restaurant revealed staff offering him sexual services.
Son Teaheum, 47, and nine others are currently under investigation for harboring and brokering sexual services, police said Saturday.
After a long period of surveillance, criminal police inspected the Luxury Business Club restaurant on Pham Thai Buong Street in District 7 on Tuesday evening and found many women offering sexual services to customers on the second floor.
The restaurant rises over four floors and has 28 rooms.
It employs 200 women and mainly serves South Korean customers.
To receive sexual services, clients must show their passport or prove they have a relationship with the owners.
Also on Tuesday evening, police found four restaurant staff members offering sexual services to South Koreans at a hotel in the area.
The four women told police they were instructed by their manager to serve hotel guests for VND3 million to VND5 million ($123 to $205) each.
Son admitted to police that to increase the restaurant’s profits, he asked staff to offer customers different types of sexual services and assure them that they would not get caught.
Under Vietnam’s Penal Code, sex workers receive a warning and a fine of 100,000 to 300,000 VND ($4.26 to $12.78), while pimps and sex ring organizers can be sentenced between six months and five years in prison.
Foreign nationals found guilty of providing sexual services also face deportation.