A Maltese man and his female Chinese partner were questioned by the police in connection with alleged human trafficking, this newspaper has learnt.

It could not be established yesterday whether the police were in a position to press charges against the couple.

Sources said the investigation started after an employee of a Paceville massage parlour, which is run by the couple, filed a police report a few days ago claiming she was being sexually exploited, underpaid and mistreated.

The sources said a Chinese woman, in her early 30s, claimed she was conned into moving to Malta to take up a lucrative job at a massage parlour. On her arrival in August, the woman said her employers had ordered her to hand over her passport to them.

Furthermore, she said that she subsequently discovered that part of her job included performing sexual acts, for which she would receive a meagre €5 from every €25 spent by clients, the sources added.

The woman, who resides in the parlour itself, also claimed that whenever she refused to comply she would be beaten up and told she would be fired. That, she pointed out, would mean ending up homeless with no means to sustain herself and unable to go back to China since her travel documents were not in her possession.

She complained that she was not allowed to take a day off from work, which, the sources noted, was in breach of employment regulations laying down a minimum number of vacation leave days.

The sources said the suspects – a 45-year-old male and a 35-year-old woman, who run several massage parlours in at least two localities – were held for questioning and also released a statement in the presence of their lawyer. They added that the victim decided to come forward after confiding to a client about her harrowing experience. The client then alerted the Chinese Embassy, which recommended the worker to go to the police.

The rising incidence of individuals trafficked for sexual exploitation, which coincided with the flourishing message parlour business, was raised in Parliament.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat acknowledged in July there was systematic abuse and vouched to take a tougher stand.

The situation had also been flagged in a 2016 US State Department report which warned that, despite significant efforts, Malta had not yet met minimum standards for the elimination of human trafficking.

It noted that women from Southeast Asia employed as domestic workers, Chinese nationals at massage parlours and women from Central and Eastern Europe engaged in nightclubs, represented populations vulnerable to exploitation.