An Indian national, who managed three prostitutes from his country, was jailed for six months on Monday.

Kothandan Vinoth, 24, was in business here for less than a week. He had pleaded guilty to bringing in the women into Singapore and living on their prostitution earnings.

A district court heard that the women, all Indian nationals, were offered air tickets and promised a monthly salary of 30,000 rupees ($684) each to work as prostitutes in Singapore. Two of the women, Kasthuri Ramasamy, 21 , and Fathimal Ali Srinivasan, 42, flew in from Chennai with Vinoth on April 1 this year.

They all had social visit passes and the next day, the women solicited for customers at Lorong 22 Geylang from 10pm to 5am. The third woman, Padma Kadiya, 35, arrived here on April 6.

The three prostitutes were arrested in a police raid on the lodging house in Race Course Road at 9.45am on April 8.Vinoth managed to escape but was arrested on April 17 at Changi Airport.

The women told police that they charged between $26 and $28 for each sexual session. From April 2 to April 7, Ramasamy had a total of 180 customers and handed over about $3,600 to Vinoth. During the same period, Srinivasan had 24 customers and collected $760.