Massage shop owners claim ignorance of underage sex
In Nontha Buri, a couple has been arrested for running a massage shop that was a front for underage sex trafficking. Police have been investigating online advertising that hinted that very young and possibly underage girls were available for services beyond traditional massage. After gathering evidence, police raided and found seven girls between the ages of 15 and 17 years old available for sexual services at the massage shop.
The shop in question was a relax massage shop called Dina and was advertising under the handle “Relax Society Massage” on social media including Twitter. Through their Twitter page and direct messaging on the LINE app, the shop owners advertised girls they described as “fresh young ones” who were available for massage and “far from ordinary work.”
Police from the Muang district of the greater Bangkok province approached the massage shop located at Moo 10 in Bang Krang in an undercover operation. At the site, a 30 year old man and his 27 year old wife from Sukhothai province met with police and accepted a 5,000 baht fee to meet with an underage girl.
Police then busted the couple for underage sex trafficking. After rescuing the seven girls who were found in the shop, the couple were taken into custody pending charges of human trafficking in minors and profiting from the prostitution of minors. They will face 10 charges in total. If convicted, they would likely receive a prison sentence of between 10 and 20 years.
The two alleged traffickers defended themselves, saying that, while they did hire the girls, they did not traffic them and they did not know their ages. They claim that the girls had come to them and applied for work, and they did not check IDs or verify their ages before hiring them.
Police doubt their naivete and say that they have plenty of evidence like mobile device data and information behind the counter of the shop they believe will contradict these claims.
