Woman arrested for running karaoke sex bar

Authorities carry out a raid on Raed karaoke bar in Bangkok's Bang Khen district late on Thursday. (Photo: Department of Provincial Administration's task force Facebook)
Authorities carry out a raid on Raed karaoke bar in Bangkok's Bang Khen district late on Thursday. (Photo: Department of Provincial Administration's task force Facebook)

A woman has been arrested and charged for procuring teens into prostitution following a raid on a karaoke bar in Bangkok's Bang Khen district late on Thursday night.

A Department of Provincial Administration task force and police raided Raed karaoke bar near Soi Lat Pla Khao 75 at about 10pm and arrested a 33-year-old woman, owner of the nightspot.

Three teens - two 15-year-old girls and a 16-year-old transgender girl - were rescued.

The task force received information that girls aged under 18 had been brought to the karaoke bar to provide sex services to customers. The bar had sent three youths to a nearby apartment to meet three operatives posing as customers.

According to the investigation, the bar owner had procured the teens from different provinces several months ago, making them her debtors. When they received service fees from serving alcoholic drinks or offering sex services to customers, the owner would take 80%.

A team of psychologists will talk to the teens, who will be sent to a child welfare home for rehabilitation.

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Vocabulary

  • debtor: a person who owes money - ลูกหนี้
  • operative (noun): a person who does secret work - ผู้ปฏิบัติการ, สายลับ
  • procure: to provide a prostitute for somebody -
  • psychologist: someone who studies how people’s minds work and how this affects their behavior - นักจิตวิทยา
  • raid: to use force to enter a place suddenly in order to arrest people or search for something such as illegal weapons or drugs - บุกเข้าจับ, เข้าตรวจค้น
  • rehabilitation: the process of returning someone or something to a good or healthy condition, state or way of living - การทำให้กลับสู่สภาพเดิม, การทำให้กลับมาดีเหมือนเดิม
  • rescue: to save a person or animal from a dangerous or unpleasant situation - ช่วยชีวิต
  • task force: a group of people who are brought together to do a particular job, or a large military group who have a military aim to achieve - คณะทำงานเฉพาะกิจ, กองกำลังเฉพาะกิจ
  • welfare: help given, especially by the state or an organization, to people who need it; good care and living conditions - สวัสดิการ
  • youths (noun): young people considered as a group - เยาวชน, คนวัยหนุ่มสาว
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