Rescued Laos Girls | Bangkok Post: multimedia

An entrance to the Ting Lee karaoke bar which authorities said harboured girls who were forced to sell themselves.

An armed DSI officer goes into the Nam Cha bar to rescue girls who were forced to provide sexual services to customers.

DSI officers detain workers and the manager of the Nam Cha bar for questioning.

The girls were taken to Ban Kred Trakan Home supervised by the Social Development and Social Security Ministry to help them recover from their ordeal.

Some of the girls wait to be transferred from the Nam Cha bar. Authorities posing as customers visited the bar and asked to buy sexual services from the girls working as hostesses there. A bar worker drove the girl and the undercover officer to a nearby hotel. The worker and the girl were detained by DSI officers who were waiting for them at the hotel.

The girls are being moved from the bar to the Ban Kred Trakan Home.

Authorities seize from the bar a list of names of local police who took bribes to keep the bar from being closed down.