TOKYO, June 20 (RIA Novosti) - Twenty-nine Russian women working as "geishas" at clubs in Tokyo were detained in a series of police raids targeting illegal immigrants.

An official at Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department said the women were transferred to immigration authorities as either their visas had expired, or they were engaged in activities not covered by their type of visa.

An official at the Regional Immigration Bureau said the 29 Russian females handed over to the agency along with nationals from Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, and Lithuania would be deported as soon as the legal question of their stay in Japan had been officially confirmed.

"They will most probably have to leave for their home country now," he said.

Officials at the Russian Embassy in Tokyo have made no comment.