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Colombo brothel racket ... behind the curtainThree-wheel drivers who became millionaires by taking customers to twilight women!
Though it is against the law of the land and though constant raids are conducted, rackets involving prostitutes are still taking place at various locations, very lucratively. The hidden information behind this racket is indeed heartening. While there are those who easily became millionaires of both sexes among them, though the police cordoned them, they still tend to get back into the same business even in a clandestine manner because they are aware that such a huge sum of money cannot be earned by engaging in any other work.
As revealed by police statistics, the number of twilight women taken into custody in raids conducted by police during the past 10 years is over 20,000. This does not mean that the number of prostitutes in this country is 20,000. It could be that a single prostitute may have been taken into custody four or five times or even more during this period and may be thus recorded in these statistics. At the same time, assuming that it is so,, that too cannot be considered negligible either. Sometimes such women who are engaged in the business of prostitution could even be a group of 10 - 20 percent of such women-folk. As such, it is difficult to estimate the exact number of those who indulge in this trade.
That is about female prostitutes. The police has taken over 1,000 male prostitutes too during the same period. Police sources reveal that in the present society there happens to be some added attraction towards male prostitutes. There are brothels allocated to male prostitutes alone by now and such a male brothel maintained under the pretense of a beauty salon in PitaKotte was recently raided by the police.
The police become active against those who indulge in prostitution under the Brothel Ordinance and Vagrants Ordinance No.5, 1885. The Brothel Ordinance has been subjected to amendment in the year 1943. Accordingly, action could be taken against those who maintain a brothel, managers, those who engage in prostitution and those who rent out a house or building for that very purpose. According to the Ordinance, any person guilty of such an offence is liable to pay a fine of Rs.500. But with the introduction of No.12, 2005 Increase of Fines by the ordinance, the amount of the fine was increased to Rs.50,000. However, it is valid only for those who maintain such premises and not for those who engage in the profession.
The police become active against those who indulge in the profession of prostitution under the Vagrants Ordinance. Even under the Vagrants Ordinance, they can go into action only in relation to street prostitutes when they are found loitering in a city or on the streets and behaving in an amorous manner in a pleading way to a would-be customer. For such an offence, the fine is a meagre sum of Rs.100 only. As such, it is a problem as to what extent this ordinance fits in to the present day to prostitutes when considering the Vagrants Ordinance. It is seen that the ordinance is an obsolete thing.
Even those who maintain brothels do not appear to heed the law or show any fear about it. It is because officers clad in stars and stripes who are expected to enforce the law themselves patronise these prostitutes to fulfill their private desires. On the other hand, since the fine at that time for the offence of running a brothel was a small amount in the form of Rs.500, racketeers did not fear running a brothel.
According to police sources, the most supreme brothel which was in operation in this country so far happens to be the one conducted at the Liberty Plaza building by a lady named Gina Madam. It is said that she had served as a prostitute herself from place to place and later had managed this particular brothel. The prostitution racket which commenced with a few attractive girls finally ended up with Gina Madam becoming the proprietor of a location which supplied Russian and other foreigners at the Liberty Plaza building and a number of other luxurious houses inclusive of a number of houses in the city of Colombo. It was revealed that among those who patronised her brothels were MPs and Ministers of parliament, higher-ups in the police force, those who held high designations in other security forces and heads of government institutions. Because of this very reason, even the police kept their distance. But the vice-squad of Panadura Walana was able to put a stop to these activities.
On a rough estimate, the number of brothels in Colombo are in the region of hundred or more. It can be assumed that there are over a 1,000 brothels in the whole of the country from Point Pedro to Devundara. Most of these brothels operate in connection with higher ups.
In order to evade the long arm of the law, such brothels, as seen from outside appear to be massage clinics. A special feature of some such massage clinics is that they function as projects of the Board of Investment. These brothels operate under the guise of massage clinics and sometimes beauty salons. What is surreptiously sold at such places are models or actresses. Those who are well aware of what is going on, say That activities in brothels commonly operate at night-time in clubs, karaoke centres and casinos. Though police raided such places and arrested prostitutes operating in those places, it is said that of late the police do not even sight the places. It is because such places are being managed by powerful hands. As such, a new aspect in professional operations of prostitutes is the racket of mobile prostitution. The procedure adopted in this case is to transport these twilight women to the customer instead of keeping them in one place and subsequently put the deal through. This form of mobile racket began to spread as a result of the increase of fines imposed on brothels and also because the police began to raid brothels. According to reliable information, there are approximately 10 such mobile cliques which operate within the city of Colombo alone. It has been revealed that among them are those who use luxury motor vehicles and vans for this purpose. These racketeers who collect these twilight women by about 7 or 8in the night, then move about in selected routes in Colombo. Colpetty, Duplication road, Bambalapitiya as well as Colombo Fort are given priority. It is over the phone that one has to place an order for the prostitute. But everybody who places this order is not considered eligible to receive what he wants. In other words, he should be a permanent or stabilised customer. Or else the order should be placed through another trustworthy customer. In most cases the trustworthy person is a three-wheel driver. However, if a prostitute is supplied to a fresh customer, steps are taken to inquire or verify whether he is a decoy or spy. It is a special feature that there is a particular procedure adopted in such cases.
The customer who so places his order has the opportunity of selecting the woman he wants. This happens after the customer is summoned to some location he is requested to come and and also after the women inside the vehicle is shown. This is done by lowering the shutter of the vehicle. But the customer has no opportunity to get into the vehicle. It is after the money transaction is completed on the woman selected. The price range is somewhere between Rs.8,000 and 15,000 and it also depends on the time-period spent in the company of the selected woman.
The location where the prostitute is to be taken too is decided upon by the racketeer involved and that too is after the monetary transaction is finalised. At that point the customer should go to the spot designated by the racketeer and the room is reserved. There are spots allocated for this purpose alone. Such places are open 24 hours of the day. Most of them are to be found around Colpetty, Bambalapitiya, Wellawatta and Grandpass. The vehicle used for these mobile operations are found plying throughout the nights on the streets. That is for the purpose of collecting the prostitutes so sold and also to work out and complete the transaction in full. In general, a mobile vehicle of this kind earns over 1 lakh per night on some occasions. That is by selling about 6 or 7 women because there are occasions when one single woman is exchanged among 2 or 3 customers. It is said that in such instances, the racketeer pays the woman a sum of at least Rs.10,000. Earnings of such a twilight woman amounts to 3 or 4 lakhs a month. Though a large sum of money is earned from this racket, much of the share goes into the pocket of three-wheel drivers who escort the customer and the racketeers themselves. The women concerned get only a lesser amount. The said three-wheel drivers are always in touch with those involved in this business of prostitution and they too mostly loiter in the nights around night clubs, restaurants or in front of karaoke halls. It is these three-wheel drivers who are in the know of the individual ... of what he is seeking for after a few shots of liquor and that is because they are able to judge by an uncanny instinct what they are looking for.
In such cases their pocket begins to get heavy from the'santhosam' they receive from persons who get into the three-wheeler and a Rs.1,000 or 2,000 cash note is offered by the racketeer too. Because of all this they are able to earn a good sum of money by providing customers to these twilight women instead of running on other hires in the night.
One such three-wheel driver who provided customers to mobile prostitutes today has reached the apex of success. This driver who had been operating a three-wheeler in the night hours in Thummulla area about 10 years back and made his life a success is now a millionaire. He is the owner of a luxury house in Flower road, Colombo, 2 houses from a luxury housing complex in Colpetty and in addition 7 vehicles including a Prado. This is what is observed from outside and a part of his assets. He thus claims ownership to such wealth because of the practical experience of providing customers to twilight women which he later on made his own business. Presently he himself carries on this racket by 'importing' prostitutes from Russia and China by providing them with the necessary visas and then accommodating them in apartments of his own.
This is only one such person who operates a business of prostitution. There are other several individuals who 'import' prostitutes from European countries and accommodates them in luxury apartments and indulges in an organised service or racket, catering to wealthy people as well as politicians in this country. Prostitutes are supplied to these customers in Five Star hotel rooms. It is the customer who has to reserve the rooms in the hotel. The woman enters the room after getting into the luxury vehicle provided to her for use by the racketeer involved. She is thus sold at a price as high as Rs.25,000and in the same way there are instances when certain affluent individuals escort foreign prostitutes instead of their own wives. The prices for such trips are decided upon according to a package system. Apart from this, there are occasions where children of the affluent and politicians alike order prostitutes for parties on this package system.There had been facilities afforded for parties to be conducted in posh housing complexes. The role expected of the prostitute concerned is to satisfy youth who attend the party. In this manner, prostitutes are supplied for these parties at least for a package of Rs.5 lakhs. Two or 3 prostitutes are included in such cases. They are Russians or Chinese or else those with a white skin hailing from some other country. Though children of the affluent class or of the powerful class happen to hold such parties once or twice a month, the police are prohibited from raiding such places. It is because they hire the prostitutes and take them to luxury houses in the guise of invitees attending the party. Since it is useless to get into conflict with this affluential parties and politicians in this society, the police turn a deaf ear and blind eye on such proceedings.
Lakbima newspaper report -- Gayan Kumara Weerasingha