[jackbl]

Foreigners run sex rings under legal business
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A number of foreigners, who appeared to have provided the expat community with legal entertainment services, have actually run prostitution-related activities, according to a report by the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA).

At a meeting on August 7, Bureau of Social Evil Prevention under MoLISA, stated that a number of foreigners contributing money towards establishing hotels, karaoke lounges, bars, and night clubs in export processing zones and industrial zones in Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, and Dong Nai have been found running sex rings.

According to the report, there are an estimated 30,000 Vietnamese prostitutes in Vietnam, most of whom work in organized groups or are involved in trans-provincial prostitution rings.

Some even contact tour guides to approach visitors at destinations in and outside Vietnam, it said.

About 30,000 service providers in Ho Chi Minh City and 25,000 in Hanoi operate in sensitive areas and could have secretly run prostitution-related activities, the report said.

In other news, the national number of drug users grew by 13,000 in the first six months of this year, the document added.