Hong Kong  - Nine Filipino women have been arrested in a crackdown on syndicates trafficking women to work in Hong Kong's sex trade, police said Thursday.

The women were arrested in an undercover operation in which police raided a private club in the city's Wan Chai bar and nightclub district along with a nearby apartment.

The suspected prostitutes, ages 24 to 47, were brought to Hong Kong by a syndicate to work as maids and then enticed into the sex trade, police said.

More than 200,000 Filipino women work in Hong Kong as live-in maids for working families, doing housework and child-care duties for a government-set minimum wage of around 460 US dollars a month. (dpa)