HANGZHOU, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Police in east China's Zhejiang Province have repatriated 18 suspects from Cambodia who had been using mobile applications to recruit prepaid members for pornographic live-streaming platforms.
By the time they were arrested, the gang had hired more than 16,000 brokers and attracted over 3.5 million registered members, involving 250 million yuan (about 36.5 million U.S. dollars), police said.
A special investigation team was established by the police in the city of Jiaxing after a mobile application called "Max" caught their attention in March.
The police found that Max had aggregated over 110 live-streaming porn platforms and stored hundreds of thousands of porn videos.
Over 200 brokers were arrested in 20 Chinese provinces and cities in April. However, the operation of the application was not stopped, with its promotion even being strengthened on social media platforms.
The police later found the servers were in Cambodia, and seized the criminal gang in August with the help of Cambodian police. Further investigation is ongoing.
