ALMOST 50 illegal brothels touting as massage parlours are being operated on the Gold Coast out of suburban shopping centres, near residential housing and above post offices or medical suites.
A confidential private investigator’s report commissioned by frustrated members of the Queensland Adult Business Association into illegal prostitution on the Glitter Strip reveals 49 illegal brothels are allegedly operating under the guise of massage businesses.
The privately commissioned sting, which ran during a month-long period at the height of the coronavirus pandemic on the Gold Coast this year, found no records of female signatures on any COVID registers placed at the front counter of the alleged illegal brothels but a “substantial” number of male signatures.
Most businesses were operating in areas regularly frequented by children and one was even above a post office, the report said.
It is understood many of the illicit businesses offer full sex services but are unregulated by the legal brothel licencing watchdog – the Prostitution Licensing Authority.
Molendinar licensed brothel owner Neil Gilmore said massage parlours operating as illegal brothels were cruelling an industry already under threat from single operators working without the same regulations.
“We are so over regulated yet there is no regulation of these other businesses, which are breaking the law,” he said.
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