Police have vowed to trace a gambling den that uses topless attendants at its gaming tables to attract punters after photos were posted on the internet.
Police believed the casino shown in the pictures was operated in Thailand and were investigating whether it was in Bangkok or other provinces, said Pol Lt Gen Winai Thongsong of the Metropolitan Police Bureau commission.
Pol Lt Gen Winai said he had instructed Pol Maj Gen Sarot Promcharoen, the MPB deputy chief, to lead the investigation to locate the casino and arrest all the people involved.
The pictures posted online, in what many viewed as defiance of law enforcement officials, show two female attendants wearing only panties and standing at a high-low dice gaming table surrounded by male gamblers in an enclosed room.
Thai banknotes can be seen on the table and a notice board bearing game rules in the Thai language is also seen on the room's wall.
Pol Lt Gen Winai said investigators were running background checks on the people who appeared in the photos.
Pisit Pisutsak, the acting MPB deputy chief, said that if the casino were located in Bangkok under MPB jurisdiction, the officers supervising that area would be punished.
Illegal casinos, some of them allegedly linked to police and military figures or operating with the protection of corrupt officers, are a perennial problem in Thailand. Periodic high-profile raids tend to serve as only a short-term deterrent.
Casinos using topless women may be a new gimmick, but Pol Maj Gen Sarot stressed that the crackdown operation would also include other casinos that did not have topless attendants.