14 Nov ,Australia : A 30-year-old Chinese woman is scheduled to appear before Melbourne Magistrate’s Court today after being charged by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) for allegedly trafficking women from China for the purposes of sexual exploitation.
It will be alleged in court that the woman arranged for two women to travel to Australia under the false pretence of furthering their study in Australia. They were then forced to work as sex workers in exploitative conditions in Melbourne and Sydney.
In addition to the arrest, officers from the AFP’s Transnational Sexual Exploitation and Trafficking Teams (TSETT) executed four search warrants on premises in South Melbourne, Richmond, Heidelberg West and Balwyn last night.
These warrants were executed with the assistance of the Department of Immigration and Consumer Affairs Victoria.
The woman was charged with the following offences:
* Operating a business involving the sexual servitude of other persons, contrary to section 270.6 of the Criminal Code 1995 (Cth).
* Engaging in conduct that causes another person to enter into debt bondage, contrary to section 271.8 of the Criminal Code 1995 (Cth).
The maximum penalty for these offences is 20 years imprisonment.