20 suspects rounded up in massage parlour crackdown
As part of the Metropolitan Police Bureau’s measure to tackle prostitution and human trafficking, a 50-strong police-cum-Army team raided the “Than Thip Entertainment” massage parlour in Bangkok’s Huai Kwang district on Tuesday night and rounded up 20 suspects.
Huai Kwang precinct’s acting superintendent Pol Colonel Arkhom Chantharat said cashier Khanittha Haochai and receptionist Suchada Ubonpitak had been named as the first and second defendants. The two would face charges of procuring women for prostitution and employing undocumented migrant workers or giving migrants jobs that are not stated in their work permits. Police will also summon the owner of the parlour to testify and hear charges.
Of the Myanmar and Lao suspects arrested in the raid, nine will face the charge of working without permission, and five will be charged for doing a job that was not stated in their work permit. They will also face the charge of disorderly assembly at a prostitution business site for their own or others’ benefits. Four others would also be charged with disorderly assembly.
As for a Myanmar sex worker, who was initially believed to be a human-trafficking victim, Arkhom said her relatives presented documents showing that she was actually 19. Hence, he said, the human-trafficking charge was not filed yet, though police will have her bone mass tested to determine her real age.
