Police involved in massage parlour

Besides rescuing 121 sex workers, including at least seven girls under 18, and arresting five suspects, the Department of Provincial Administration (DOPA)-led team also found logbooks detailing kickbacks to corrupt police that included Bt60,000 to the Children, Juvenile and Women’s Division; Bt76,000 to the Immigration Bureau, Bt30,000 to the Special Branch Division; Bt25,000 to the 191 Special Branch and Bt24,000 to Huai Kwang Police Station.

Wednesday afternoon, Metropolitan Police Area 1 chief Pol Maj-General Wichanwat Borirakkul also issued transfer orders for Huai Kwang superintendent Pol Colonel Kittipong Wisetsa-nguan, his deputy Pol Lt-Colonel Satsak Chaiprasert, along with two inspectors Pol Lt-Colonel Jeerapol Prapanjan and Pol Lt-Colonel Supapat Sawatdee from Police Area 1 pending the results of a fact-finding probe.

Deputy police spokesman Pol Maj-General Piyapan Pingmuang quoted Chakthip as instructing Acting Metropolitan Police chief Pol Lt-General Sanit Mahathaworn to report the case details as soon as possible. He said the case would be divided in three parts: criminal prosecution of the parlour possibly with a human trafficking charge; disciplinary probe against police in the jurisdiction; and investigation into police’s alleged involvement and ‘protection fee’ collection, as the raid also yielded a logbook of kickback payments to corrupt police and officials in various agencies.