8 women arrested
at massage parlor

The Tokyo Spa sweep is the biggest
bust of illegal aliens at a massage parlor

By Lori Tighe
Star-Bulletin

Eight workers at Tokyo Spa were arrested this week in what law enforcement officials said was the biggest massage parlor bust of illegal aliens in recent history.

"By far this is the largest number of illegal alien workers we have found in a massage parlor," said Donald Radcliffe, district director for the Immigration and Naturalization Service, today.

The women, from Mexico, Korea and Thailand, were arrested in Tokyo Spa at 10 p.m. Wednesday.

The business, located on the second floor of 1423 Kapiolani Blvd., is known to police for illegal activity, said Lt. Evan Ching, in charge of Honolulu Police Department's morals and gambling detail.

Ching said that in the past, officers have made arrests at the establishment for prostitution, practicing massage without a license and other offenses.

Police and federal officials worked together on the arrests this week.

The women will most likely be deported and sent to their home countries, Radcliffe said.

The city has experienced noticeable growth in both massage parlors and illegal immigrants in recent years, according to officials.

"We've had a proliferation of these massage parlors in the last three to four years," Ching said.

"We receive a lot of complaints on these places from wives and girlfriends of men who go there, from residents living nearby, and from men who were surprised at the prostitution going on," Ching said.

INS estimates illegal alien activity has increased 50 percent in the last two years compared with previous years, Radcliffe said.

Hawaii has between 9,000 and 10,000 illegal immigrants, Radcliffe said.

The INS finds them working in restaurants, hostess bars, hotels and farms.