Four men, one woman charged over offences linked to illegal brothels

SINGAPORE – Four men and one woman are accused of crimes related to illegal brothels, including deceiving landlords in Geylang about the true use of their premises.

The alleged offenders, who are all Singapore citizens, were handed between one and five charges each in a district court on May 6.

The police said on May 5 that the individuals were among those arrested after officers conducted raids across Singapore on Oct 21, 2024.

Ho Seng Wee, 40, who faces four charges, had allegedly managed illegal brothels and lived off prostitutes’ earnings between April and October 2024.

According to charge sheets, Ho – together with Ong Zhihe Philip and Liew Yaojie – also posted advertisements of at least nine women offering sexual services on the website Sammyboyforum.

Lim Shi Wei, 36, was handed four counts of cheating for allegedly instigating others to rent four premises in the Geylang area, which were later misused as brothels.

Lim also faces one count of using a bank account belonging to his spouse to receive prostitution payments. The remaining three people – Khah Tee Meng, 61; Lee Teck Li, 44; and the only woman, Loo Lay Kuan, 56 – were purportedly occupiers of the Geylang premises listed in Lim’s charges.

They allegedly duped the landlords into thinking they were the rightful tenants while using the units as brothels. For this, they each face one offence of cheating.

Loo and Khah were also given one and four additional charges, respectively, for gambling-related offences. All five individuals are out on $15,000 bail. Four of them, except Khah, will be pleading guilty in June.

The October 2024 raids were conducted by police officers from the Criminal Investigation Department’s Specialised Crime Branch.

The police seized more than $6,000 in cash, vice-related paraphernalia and controlled drugs.

Twenty people were arrested in total from the raids and follow-up investigations, said the police.

Of the group, eight – including those charged on May 6 – have been hauled to court, while one woman received a warning and another man was investigated for drug-related offences.

Police investigations into the other individuals are ongoing.

The offence of managing an illegal brothel carries a maximum punishment of a fine of up to $100,000 and a jail term of up to five years.