BURMESE WOMEN AND GIRLS LURED INTO PROSTITUTION IN CHANTHABURI MASSAGE PARLOURS
On Nov 9, Chanthaburi police and officials from the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) raided Marina massage parlour on Tha Chalaeb Road in downtown Chanthaburi.
Police rescued 67 ethnic Shan women from Burma, 37 of whom were under the age of 18. They have now been entrusted to the care of the Social Development and Human Security Ministry.
Pol Lt Col Komvich Pathanarat, director of the DSI's human trafficking prevention and suppression centre, said he was tipped off last month by a women's rights organisation that girls and women from Burma had been tricked into working as prostitutes at the massage parlour.
The organisation said that even though it had alerted local police to the problem, little progress was made so it asked for help from the DSI.
Pol Lt Pol Komvich said after the information had been verified, he and Chanthaburi police had worked out a plan to rescue the workers.
He said on Nov 9 he posed as a visitor to the massage parlour and found the Burmese women as described. Police then raided the massage parlour and removed the workers, who were believed to have been trafficked.
The officer said he was looking for a 16-year-old girl called Aey after her aunt asked police and the DSI through anti-human trafficking networks in Burma to find her. He said the girl, along with two friends from Burma, were lured into the sex trade by a human trafficker six months ago.
The trafficker made arrangements for them to cross the border at Chiang Rai's Mae Sai district, where they were picked up by a Thai man.
Pol Lt Col Komvich said initial checks have found that four influential people are behind the human trafficking networks in the North.
Women who have been lured go through a "trial" at massage parlours in Chanthaburi.
If they pass this trial, they will then be sent to work in Bangkok.
He said the DSI is tracking down those behind the network.
After being rescued, Aey told police that she and her friends were taken to the massage parlour in Chanthaburi and stayed with other women who had also been lured into the job.
They were prohibited from leaving the parlour's compound and those who could not work without good reason would have 3,000 baht deducted from their wages every day, she said.
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