Two men and a woman have been charged with luring five Laotian minors into prostitution, after undercover police busted a karaoke brothel in Rayong province.
The accused are also from Laos, identified as Surasek, 44, Sornsawan, 29, Koon, 20, Immigration Bureau commissioner Pol Lt Gen Sompong Chingduang told the media on Friday.
They were arrested on Dec 25 at a karaoke bar in Pluak Daeng district.
He said immigration police conducted the sting operation after receiving a tip-off from Alliance Anti Trafic (AAT), a non-profit watchdog combating sexual exploitation and trafficking in Southeast Asia.
"Five young Laotian girls were presented to plainclothes policemen [at the bar]. The procurers asked for a fee of 1,500 baht for each girl and a room," said Lt Gen Sompong.
He said the bar owner, Mr Surasek, confessed to procuring the girls and was charged accordingly while Ms Sornsawan and Ms Koon were charged with human trafficking before being sent to Immigration Division 3.
In a separate case, five Cambodians were nabbed on Friday for selling fake sneakers at Rong Kluea Market in Aranyaprathet, in the border province of Sa Kaeo.
Col Akekapong Krittayakiatchuti, chief of the local 12th Ranger Forces Regiment, led the raid after being tipped off that Cambodians had smuggled in counterfeit products to sell at the famed and busy border market.
The Rangers challenged five Cambodian men, who promptly dumped the large plastic sacks they were carrying and fled back through the border post.
Inside the sacks, the officers found 146 pairs of counterfeit Fila trainers priced at 1,300 baht each.
Col Akekapong said the Cambodians caught were likely just peddlers, hired by a producer of counterfeit goods to sell the fake brand-name footwear in Thailand.