Taiwan prostitution ring cracked

POLICE in Taiwan said yesterday they had cracked a Thai prostitution ring after arresting 17 women, many of whom had travelled to the island through phoney marriages arranged by agencies.

The women, all Thai and aged in or around their early 20s, were allegedly working at a brothel run by Chiu Mei-lang, a naturalized Taiwan citizen from Thailand.

The brothel in northern Hsinchu was disguised as a Thai restaurant, police said.