Fourteen Detained: Melbourne Brothel Compliance Operation
Media Release - DPS 54/2003
Fourteen women are in immigration detention following a compliance operation targeting four brothels in Melbourne, the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA) confirmed today.
Immigration officers conducted the operation on Monday 11 August, with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).
As a result of the operation fourteen women were detained, comprising 13 Thai nationals and one woman from Indonesia.
All the women will be questioned in relation to trafficking and sexual servitude and any possible cases will be forwarded to the Australian Federal Police.
Of the group three of the women were Unlawful Non-Citizens and 11 had their visas cancelled.
The group was transferred to the Maribyrnong Immigration Detention Centre.
DIMIA officers, often with assistance from state police, make regular visits to workplaces in many parts of Australia, including restaurants, farms, shops, offices, factories and brothels, in an effort to detect and locate people who are in the country illegally or who are working illegally. DIMIA may also issue warning notices to employers or labour suppliers who are found to have employed illegal workers.
In the 2002-03 financial year to 31 May the Department located 19,070 people who had either overstayed or breached their visa conditions - an increase of 10 per cent over the 2001-02 financial year when the Department located 17,307 overstayers and people breaching visa conditions around Australia.
13 August 2003
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