HK cult linked to prostitution

South China Post/January 15, 2004

A cult in Hong Kong lured women into working as prostitutes by promising them places in heaven if they slept with enough men, reports say.

Women snared by the cult had to work 12 hours a day having sex with at least 10 men, according to the South China Morning Post.

All their money went to the Green Dragon Temple Cult which promised them a place in heaven once they earned 500,000 Hong Kong dollars.

The cult told the women it recruited they would become goddesses when the world ended once they had entered heaven, the newspaper says.

Police spent Thursday hunting the alleged cult leader Mo Wan-lun and five other men after the arrest of three cult members, a woman and two men, on Monday.

Five women aged between 20 and 40 who were working for the cult in brothels in Hong Kong's red light districts of Mongkok and Yau Ma Tei were rescued in police raids during the operation.