(Trinidad Guardian) Police detained 35 foreign nationals suspected of prostitution during a raid at a hotel and bar in central Trinidad, early yesterday.
The foreigners, ten men and 25 women, were held as officers of the Port-of-Spain CID, led by Senior Supt Ajith Persad, raided Rich Gold Hotel and Bar located along the Southern Main Road in Chase Village.
While police suspect they were all engaged in prostitution, they could not charge them for that offence as no one was caught in the act.
Instead, the foreigners, who are from the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Guyana, Grenada and Jamaica, were charged for various immigration offences including overstaying their time and entering the country illegally.
Police said some were repeat offenders who were previously deported. They are expected to appear in the Chaguanas Magistrate’s Court, today.
Hours before the raid, the same group of officers conducted an exercise at Roberts and Murray Streets in Woodbrook, where they arrested three women and a man.
The three women, and a man who is suspected of being their “pimp”, were charged with loitering for the purpose of prostitution.
The offence carries a $200 fine or up to one month in prison. The exercise was also supervised by ASP Anderson Pariman, Sgt Anthony Williams and Cpl Anand Bissoon.
