Where have all the prostitutes gone?

ANOTHER trade expected to go deeper 'underground' is that of vice dens catering to foreign workers.

The makeshift 'love huts' in forests, usually found near foreign workers' dormitories, have been vacated.

A check at forested areas in Lim Chu Kang Road and Woodlands, where vice dens were known to exist, found only old mattresses and rolls of canvas sheets.

'They have come out of the forest and are using parked vehicles for their business,' he said.

'It's a little strange, but nobody is complaining because it's less risky than being caught by police in the forest. Also, there are fewer mosquitoes than in the forest.'

Mr Ramachandran revealed that one den near his Jurong dormitory on Soon Lee Road has been using this new tactic.

However, the police have raided this area before.

In March 2006, 70 illegal immigrants and prostitutes were arrested there.

And as recently as 27 Mar, the police found a vice den operated by Thai nationals in a forest in Yishun.

Such vice dens offer sex, gambling, cheap beer, cigarettes and, in some cases, drugs.

Said Mr Ramachandran: 'What to do? We (foreign workers) are still human and need some 'temporary love'.

'Going to Geylang is out of the way when you are staying in Jurong.'

This story was first published in The New Paper on Apr 5, 2008.