5 brothel execs face charges of trafficking

5 brothel execs face charges of trafficking

77 of the arrested women are migrants

Female migrant suspects detained in Tuesday's raid at Nataree massage parlour on Ratchadaphisek Road in Bangkok cover their faces while walking into the Criminal Court where police investigators asked to detain them for 12 more days for further questioning. (Photo by Patipat Janthong)
Female migrant suspects detained in Tuesday's raid at Nataree massage parlour on Ratchadaphisek Road in Bangkok cover their faces while walking into the Criminal Court where police investigators asked to detain them for 12 more days for further questioning. (Photo by Patipat Janthong)

Police have pressed human trafficking charges against five executives of Nataree massage parlour who were arrested following a raid on Tuesday.

The five suspects, including Pong-anan Khanaket, who is believed to be more senior than the other four, along with 121 female prostitutes were detained following the raid on the massage parlor on Ratchadaphisek Road.

The five ran the parlour operations, police said.

Pol Col Thepphithak Saengkla, a senior police investigator at Huai Khwang police station, said police have pressed charges of human trafficking and sheltering illegal migrant workers against them.

Of the 121 detained women, 77 are migrants, including some from Myanmar and Laos.

Among the migrant suspects, 57 of them were charged with not having work permits while the remainder were charged because their work permits did not correspond with their jobs.

Meanwhile, 23 Thai women over the age of 18 were released after they were fined for working in a brothel under the protection and suppression of prostitution law.

All 77 migrants also face the same charge of working as prostitutes in a brothel, said Pol Col Chayut Marayat, deputy chief of the Metropolitan Police Bureau's (MPB) Division 1.

According to police sources, of the 121 women detained in Tuesday's raid, 15 of them -- two Thais and 13 from Myanmar -- are under 18.

Police sought the court's permission for a further 12-day detention order for the 57 illegal migrants along with the five executives since the investigation has yet not ended.

Police also objected to bail, reasoning they do not have residential addresses where they can be located. The court approved the requests.

Meanwhile, public prosecutors on Friday filed a lawsuit with the court against the remaining 20 migrants after they confessed to working in the brothel and doing jobs they are not permitted to do.

The court fined them 4,000 baht each for working illegally and 500 baht each for working in a brothel. They were released after being fined.

Ronnasit Phrueksayachiwa, an investigations director at an anti-human trafficking organisation, provided Huai Khwang police investigators with a number of audio recordings yesterday containing interviews conducted with some of the women who claimed they had been lured into prostitution at Nataree massage parlour.

Pol Maj Gen Piyaphan Pingmuang, deputy spokesman of the National Police Office (NPO), meanwhile, said that national police chief Chakthip Chaijinda had instructed the MPB to speed up its probe to find out who were actually involved in the alleged payment of bribes by Nataree massage parlour bosses to police and other state officials.

Pol Gen Chakthip had also assigned Pol Maj Gen Chetsada Yaisun, chief of the discipline division of the NPO, to take part in the MPB's investigation into the alleged bribe payments by the brothel to certain police and state officials, said Pol Maj Gen Piyaphan.

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