The District Court has handed down prison sentences ranging from 10 to 22 months to eight men convicted of vice-related offences.

In mid-2003, Kowloon West's Regional Crime Unit began a crackdown on vice operators, sending an undercover officer to infiltrate a vice syndicate, the court heard.

Since January, officers have arrested nine men, aged from 23 to 48. All are believed to be syndicate members who managed several vice establishments in Mong Kok.

They were subsequently charged with conspiracy to keep vice establishments and conspiracy to live on earnings of prostitutes. Eight of them were sentenced to imprisonment at the District Court yesterday.

The Police are determined to crack down on any vice-related activities and similar operations will be mounted on a regular basis.