The Immigration Department has crippled an international prostitution syndicate which conducted vice activities via the 'WeChat' application.

This followed a raid at a serviced apartment in Georgetown, Penang early this morning, where 19 foreign women were detained.

The suspects aged between 17 and 38 comprised 16 women from Uzbekistan, two Vietnamese and an Indonesian.

The police also picked up three local men suspected to be pimps in the raid about 1am.

Immigration Director-General Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali said the syndicate operated from a residential location to trick enforcement authorities as the premises were tightly guarded and only registered visitors were allowed in.

He said initial investigations revealed the syndicate was linked to an international network and that the arrests would unearth other networks which were operated by foreigners with the help of locals.

"The syndicate is believed to have been active since two months ago, offering sexual services through the WeChat social application, and charging between RM240 and RM350 for each walk-in and out-call sessions at hotels determined by the client," he added in a statement here today.

Acting on information from the locals, Mustafar said the Immigration Action Unit of the Penang Immigration Department carried out the raid jointly with the Enforcement Division of the Immigration Headquarters in Putrajaya.

He said in the raid, the department also seized cash amounting to RM12,629 and two cars - Mercedes Benz and Exora - which were suspected to have been used for the illegal activities.

"Initial investigations revealed some of the women had entered Malaysia on social visit pass while others did not have valid travel documents," he said, adding the suspects were investigated under the Immigration Act 1959/63 (Amendment 2002) and the Anti-trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007 (Amendment 2010). -- BERNAMA