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Fiji police have launched a nation-wide crackdown on illegal brothel operators following the implementation of new anti-prostitution laws under the new Crimes Decree 2009 enforced last Monday.
Assistant police spokesperson Sergeant Suliano Tevita said the Fiji Police Force would come down hard on these illegal operators.
“If owners are found giving rooms for purposes such as prostitution, they will be taken to court as the new decree covers this,” Tevita told FijiLive.
Brothel operators prosecuted under the new law receive the harshest penalties of 5-years imprisonment or $10,000 fine, or both.
“We are also targeting those who normally loiter in towns and cities,” Tevita said.
Clause 231 (1) (a) of the decree states - “any person loitering in a public place for the purpose of offering himself or herself for sex in return for a payment of any nature, seeks the services of a prostitute in a public place, uses the services of a prostitute in a public place, makes arrangements with a prostitute or a person offering the services of a prostitute in order to use his or her services by any communication whatsoever, or solicits for an immoral purpose by any communication whatsoever” - commits a summary offense.
First time offenders will be fined $500 and subsequent offenders a prison term of 3 months, or $1,000 fine, or both.
A person “knowingly living wholly or in part on the earnings of money earned from prostitution” can be imprisoned for 6 months if found guilty under the new law.
Nine Chinese nationals are currently in police custody after Fiji immigration officers together with police raided four homes in Suva Friday night and arrested 7 women who were engaged in prostitution activities.
The women, together with 2 other Chinese men caught with expired visas will be deported back to China on Monday.
