Massage parlour in northern Thailand raided for underage sex trafficking
Police swooped on a massage parlour in the northern province of Tak after a tip-off on underage sex trafficking. The owner of the parlour was arrested and two teenage Burmese girls were rescued.
The Anti Trafficking In Persons Division Police (ATPD) received a tip-off that a Thai woman, 40 year old Suphaporn Makaew, was operating an underage sex trafficking racket behind her massage business. To verify the information, an undercover police officer posed as a customer as he visited the massage parlour, located on the Mae Sot-Umphang Road in the Mae Sot district of Tak.
Supaporn offered sexual services to the officer, explaining that two Burmese girls, aged 16 and 17, were available for 1,500 baht each. She added that he could take the girls out of the shop to a hotel or house and request both a massage and sex service. The officer then revealed his identity and arrested Supaporn.
The two Burmese girls are considered the victims and are now under the care of the Department of Children and Youth.
Supaporn confessed to the crime, admitting that she gave the girls 1,000 baht and kept 500 baht for herself. Supaporn faced five charges including:
- Section 52 of the Anti-Trafficking in Person Act: committing an offence of trafficking a child aged over 15 years old but not yet 18 years old. The penalty will be imprisonment from six years to 12 years and a fine from 120,000 baht to 240,000 baht.
- Section 283 of the Criminal Law: procuring, seducing or taking away a child aged over 15 years old but not yet 18 years old for an indecent act. The penalty will be imprisonment from seven to 20 years and a fine of 14,000 baht to 40,000 baht, or life imprisonment.
- Section 26(3) of the Act on Protection of Children: forcing, threatening, convincing, supporting, or allowing a child to adopt behaviour and manners which are inappropriate or likely to be the cause of wrongdoing.
- Section 9 of the Act on Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act: procuring, seducing or taking a child aged over 15 years old but not yet 18 years old to commit prostitution, even with his or her consent. The penalty will be imprisonment for five to 15 years and a fine of 100,000 baht to 300,000 baht.
- Section 319 of the Criminal Law: taking away a child aged over 15 years old but not yet 18 years old from the parent or guardian for indecent purposes, even with the consent of such a person. The penalty will be imprisonment for two to 15 years and a fine of 4,000 baht to 20,000 baht.
Similar cases of child sex trafficking were recently reported in the popular holiday resorts of Phuket and Pattaya. In March, the ATPD conducted a raid at Velvet Bar on Bangla Walking Street in the Patong neighbourhood of Phuket. Six teenage girls, the youngest was 16 years old, were rescued by the authorities.
Following the raid, six foreign men were charged with buying sex services at the bar. Two Thai women who operated the bar and the ran sex trafficking racket were later arrested while another foreign man who was involved in the business fled the country.
In February, a go-go bar, Club 4, in Pattaya was ordered to close after police officers discovered underage sex trafficking in operation. Two women who operated the trafficking and venue were arrested at the scene. The number of teenage girls who were rescued from the place was not reported by the police.
