Assets worth Bt463m seized in massage parlour case

By The Nation

 

CONFISCATION FOR 90 DAYS AS POLICE CONTINUE HUNT FOR 19 WANTED SUSPECTS

 

A COMMITTEE of the Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) resolved to temporarily seize 45 assets worth more than Bt463 million linked to “Victoria’s: The Secret Forever” massage parlour and its alleged de facto owner Kampol Weerathepsuporn even as a manhunt continues for 19 suspects wanted for alleged human trafficking and prostitution.

 

AMLO acting secretary-general Pol Maj-General Rommasit Viriyasant said yesterday that the committee on Tuesday resolved to seize for up to 90 days the 28 bank accounts in the names of 11 people, including 61-year-old Kampol and his 68-year-old wife Nipa, nine stock and investment units, and eight properties registered in the names of the couple’s relatives or associates.

 

Meanwhile, the chief of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI), Pol Colonel Paisit Wongmuang, said that officers were hunting for 19 suspects linked to the massage parlour, for whom a criminal court had already approved arrest warrants. The DSI was responsible for three areas of the investigation, Paisit explained. 

 

They were: cases of human trafficking against 45 suspects, which was passed onto public prosecutors on April 2; the money-laundering case which the DSI had passed onto the AMLO for further action, leading to the Bt463 million asset seizure; and wrongdoing by state officials, which is being probed by the DSI and the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission. 

 

According to Rommasit, police found that a 12-year-old girl from Myanmar was forced into prostitution in July 2014 at the parlour before she was sent to provide sex services in Malaysia, resulting in the DSI taking this up as a special case. The DSI had an arrest warrant for Boonsap Amornrattanasiri, 55, and six others on human trafficking charges. 

 

Boonsap, the parlour’s chief promoter, was arrested after an investigation assisted by anti-sex trafficking activists Nvader led to a sting operation and a raid on the parlour on January 12. Also arrested were parlour manager Satthatham Jaengchai, 67, and four others on suspicion of human trafficking and prostitution. That later led to arrest warrants for other alleged accomplices Supatra Sarad, Yanisa Prombutr and Pratuang Tutrasang as well as Kampol and Nipa.

 

In a separate case, the AMLO committee also approved the confiscation of Bt9.5 million cash seized from three foreign suspects who failed to declare the money to Customs Department officials when they entered the Kingdom, leading to suspicion they might be part of money-smuggling gangs. The smuggling of cash also comes under the Anti-Money Laundering Act.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30344986

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-5-9

I thought that this Victoria Massage place was being openly run for over a decade in the center of town, Ratchadapisek? Or am i mistaken? Why the sudden awareness that this is a front for prostitution?? There are so many more in the same area, and on Phetchaburi Road, Cowboy, Nana etc...

They ARE still connected. Victorias WAS.

16 minutes ago, saakura said:

I thought that this Victoria Massage place was being openly run for over a decade in the center of town, Ratchadapisek? Or am i mistaken? Why the sudden awareness that this is a front for prostitution?? There are so many more in the same area, and on Phetchaburi Road, Cowboy, Nana etc...

 

Did you read the Op ?

 

25 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

According to Rommasit, police found that a 12-year-old girl from Myanmar was forced into prostitution in July 2014 at the parlour before she was sent to provide sex services in Malaysia, resulting in the DSI taking this up as a special case. The DSI had an arrest warrant for Boonsap Amornrattanasiri, 55, and six others on human trafficking charges. 

 

6 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

Did you read the Op ?

 

 

Yes i did, and was even more intrigued that a young child was forced into prostitution in 2014 and DSI suddenly realised it in 2018.

Shocking news !!..Prostitution and that too in Thailand ?!!?..unbelievable once again !!

 

Time to clean up this horrible joint in that case and preserve the clean image of Sukhumvit area !!

 

 

(p.s. looks that sex services really do pay!!)

12 hours ago, saakura said:

I thought that this Victoria Massage place was being openly run for over a decade in the center of town, Ratchadapisek? Or am i mistaken? Why the sudden awareness that this is a front for prostitution?? There are so many more in the same area, and on Phetchaburi Road, Cowboy, Nana etc...

Victoria's is not on Ratchada, but in a very quiet residential neighborhood near Rama IX about a kilometer west of Ram Inthra. I don't live far from there and was very surprised when I first saw it many years ago. Beautiful building too, although I've never been inside (honestly I haven't). 

Those millions of baht being confiscated by the Bib will probably find its way back to the unnamed officials that had the investments there with a slight percent  being kept by the Bib.

...huh...

 

...no criminal charges....???

 

...is this the establishment that has been in operation for decades....???

 

...gotta wonder if the punishment really addresses the severity of the crimes...