DSI denies brothel crackdown was political

DSI denies brothel crackdown was political

Police escort Sasithorn Wirathepsuporn (inset) to the Criminal Court Wednesday. She is a key shareholder of Amarin Onsen Ltd Partnership, which operated Victoria's Secret Massage parlour until it was busted last Friday. (Main photo Pattarapong Chatpattarasill)
Police escort Sasithorn Wirathepsuporn (inset) to the Criminal Court Wednesday. She is a key shareholder of Amarin Onsen Ltd Partnership, which operated Victoria's Secret Massage parlour until it was busted last Friday. (Main photo Pattarapong Chatpattarasill)

The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) has dismissed speculation that the crackdown on suspected human trafficking at Victoria's Secret Massage on Friday was politically motivated.

The operation, carried out by the DSI along with the military and local police officers, was not instructed by anyone on high, neither was it an order from the Justice Minister, the permanent secretary for justice or the DSI chief, said DSI deputy chief Songsak Raksaksakul.

"Even though in an intelligence report our investigators have shown that the group of [real] massage parlour owners who are not nominees of anyone else are connected with certain politicians in the North and West forming a new political party, Friday's raid on the parlour really had nothing to do with politics," he said.

"They [those politicians] have tried to portray this operation as politically motivated revenge, even though they actually had violated the law," he said.

A source said there had been attempts to link Friday's raid on Victoria's Secret Massage with politics by suggesting that the raid was intended to force this political group to turn to support Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha in becoming prime minister again after the general election.

The source said that Pol Lt Col Supat Thamthanarug, director of the DSI's Bureau of Human Trafficking Crime, went to Wang Thong Lang police station Wednesday to take over the investigation from detectives there after DSI chief Pol Col Paisit Wongmuang approved a proposal for the DSI to take up the Victoria's Secret Massage case for investigation and treat it as a special criminal case.

In Friday's raid, more than 80 women found there are believed to have been forced into prostitution.

Authorities widened the investigation and later allegedly discovered that 20 state officials including senior police were implicated in documents, found at the parlour, which could expose a human trafficking network.

Since the Victoria's Secret Massage case was clearly a human trafficking one because it involves child prostitutes, Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Gen Prawit Wongsuwon has instructed all relevant authorities to consider taking the toughest possible legal action against people found to be involved in this human-trafficking network, Defence Ministry spokesman Kongcheep Tantravanich said Wednesday.

It is government policy to work harder to stamp out human trafficking and bring those behind this illegal business to justice, particularly those who are state officials, he said.

Pol Col Songsak also revealed that at least four girls aged under 18 were found in a screening on Sunday conducted on the people detained during the raid and were believed to be prostitutes working at the parlour.

At least two other underage girls were found to have been forced into prostitution, Pol Col Songsak said.

This is clear evidence that the Victoria's Secret Massage case involves human trafficking, he said.

The DSI is in the process of gathering more evidence to back its planned request for arrest warrants for two other major shareholders in the company that operates the massage parlour, he said.

On Tuesday, Sasithorn Wirathepsuporn, 45, a key shareholder of Amarin Onsen Limited Partnership, which operates the massage parlour, was accompanied by her lawyer when she turned herself in to deputy national police chief Srivara Ransibrahmanakul at the Royal Thai Police.

Ms Sasithorn, who is facing an arrest warrant on various charges including colluding in human-trafficking, was on Wednesday denied bail.

She was then remanded and transferred to the Central Women Correctional Institution in Chatuchak district where she will remain in custody, a source said.

She appeared tense, suffering from lack of sleep and cried all the time before being taken to the Criminal Court on Wednesday afternoon when police investigators requested the court's permission to further detain her during the ongoing investigation, the source said.

The DSI also plans to invite former politician and broadcaster Chuvit Kamolvisit, who founded Victoria's Secret Massage, to provide investigators with more information on the parlour's business, Pol Col Songsak said.

Since Mr Chuvit previously mentioned in public that Ms Sasithorn is only a nominee and that the real owner of the parlour is Kampol Wirathepsuporn after acquiring it from him, he should have more in-depth information that would be useful for the DSI's probe, Pol Col Songsak said.

Do you like the content of this article?
COMMENT (15)