AGENTS of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group on Monday smashed a Manila-based Korean prostitution ring following separate raids which resulted in the arrest of five suspects and the rescue of 10 female victims, CIDG director Chief Supt. Samuel D. Pagdilao, Jr. said yesterday.

Pagdilao identified one of the suspects as Marian Bagonoc, 25, girlfriend of the syndicate’s leader named Mihn Byong Kil. The others were Petronilo Barin, Juan Carlo Endriga, Roberto Alburo and Carlito Yu.

Alburo and Yu were identified as security guards at the Hyatt Manila (Marina) Residential Suite at 1588 M.H. del Pilar St., Pedro Gil, Manila who tried to prevent members of the CIDG Women and Children Protection Division headed by Supt. Emma M. Libunao from conducting the raid.

Kil, the owner of the Little Orange Massage Service described by Pagdilao as an “escort service ring” disguising as a home service massage provider that caters to Koreans, is still being hunted as of press time.

The suspects are facing charges of violation of Republic Act 9208, particularly qualified trafficking in person, a non-bailable offense.

According to Libunao, they discovered that the Little Orange Massage Service is a bogus establishment that exists only in an advertisement posted in a Korean magazine.

She said that Kil and Bagonoc operate their escort syndicate from Unit 26-B of Hyatt Manila where they receive calls from their Korean clients.

“Once an order-call was received from a Korean client, Bagonoc who operates the order-by-phone massage service in Hyatt will arrange for a rendezvous between the client and the female escort at a particular hotel or inn where the `masseur’ performs extra service in the form of sexual services,” Libunao said.

After receiving a call from a foreign client, Bagonoc will call Barin, the caretaker of a unit at the 3rd floor of Villa Veronica Condo, Taal St., Vito Cruz, Manila where the young women are being held. Barin will then dispatch their driver Endriga to deliver the woman to her client at a pre-arranged hotel or inn.

Libunao said their investigation showed that Kil and Bagonoc charge their clients P200 per hour, earning them an average of P240,000 a month.

The operation against the Korean prostitution ring was triggered by a complaint from three women who claimed they were hired by Bagonoc as masseurs but they ended up as prostitutes.