The deputy head of the Macau Public Security Police (PSP) is among 26 people arrested after the city’s Judiciary Police (PJ) smashed three prostitution rings last week, according to local media.

Apart from PSP Deputy Commissioner Leong Heng Hong, 60, the PJ also nabbed two other serving PSP officers and two retired PJ officers, Macau Business reported on Monday.

The two other PSP officers are a 51-year-old acting department head, surnamed Chan, and a 54-year-old officer, surnamed So.

According to a PJ statement issued on Saturday, officers raided three sauna venues, five offices and 23 other locations on Friday.

They arrested 24 men and two women, aged 39 to 68, comprising 18 Macau residents, six mainland Chinese and two Hong Kong residents.

“The three criminal syndicates were found to have engaged in manipulated prostitution from 2016 to 2024 respectively, receiving illegal proceeds ranging from about MOP 230 million to 320 million,” the PJ said.

Each syndicate had offered bribes to the involved law enforcement personnel each month, it added.

“The aforesaid incumbent personnel of public security forces had profited no less than HKD 470,000 each month, while the two retired Judiciary Police personnel [had profited] no less than HKD 300,000 each month.”

Preliminary investigations showed that the syndicates recruited Asian and Eastern European women to engage in prostitution.

Twelve suspects, including the PSP officers, were remanded in custody.

The two Hong Kong residents – a 39-year-old man surnamed Cheuk, reportedly a sauna parlour shareholder, and a 41-year-old woman surnamed Lam, said to be a sauna worker, were also remanded.

The other 14 suspects, including the two retired PJ officers, were released subject to legal restrictions.

The case has been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office for further investigation, according to a statement issued by the office on Sunday.