Thai woman selling child aged 16 for sex via Line application arrested in Bangkok

[webfact]

Picture: Daily News

 

Operatives from the Children and Women's Welfare Supervision Division and Choke Chai police announced the arrest of a 29 year old Thai woman called Wanthanee from Nakhon Sawan.

 

She was arrested at women's accommodation in Soi Ramkhamhaeng 65 in the Hua Mark area of Bangkok, reported Daily News.

 

She is charged with human trafficking after arranging for a child aged between 15 and 18 to have sex with a customer via the Line application.

 

A 16 year old girl named only as "A" was detained at a hotel along with 0.81 grams of ketamine. 

 

She said she had received 11,000 baht from Wanthanee who would keep 1000 or 2000 baht more as an introduction fee. 

 

Police said due to the age of the victim this was a human trafficking case.

 

Pol Lt_Gen Samran Nuanma of the metropolitan police said this was part of ongoing government efforts to tackle human trafficking of children for sex in Thailand that has seen US authorities place the country on Tier 2 of their watchlist.   

 

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[OneMoreFarang]

Will now all mothers who send their daughters to make money in the entertainment business be charged/arrested? Or will everything continue as normal?

 

Personally I think it's up to the (adult) girls what they do and how they make money. But unfortunately there are many mothers who demand money from their daughters and who know what the girls have to do to earn that money. TiT

[tonray]

Throw away the key for this one. 

[Dart12]

I wonder if the family lost all income due to the government shutting down everything for 2 years.

[petermik]

Is it just because money was changing hands the authorities became involved as in the ’villages’ it is quite normal for 12 years old and up to be having sexual relationships....

[Gottfrid]

8 minutes ago, petermik said:

Is it just because money was changing hands the authorities became involved as in the ’villages’ it is quite normal for 12 years old and up to be having sexual relationships....

No, it´s not at all normal from the age of 12. That´s just a lot of rubbish talking. it might have been many, many years ago. However, today it still exists but is not at all something that should be described as very common or normal.

[khunPer]

3 hours ago, Gottfrid said:

No, it´s not at all normal from the age of 12. That´s just a lot of rubbish talking. it might have been many, many years ago. However, today it still exists but is not at all something that should be described as very common or normal.

That's actually depending of how many years ago "many, many years ago" is - but of course I know that "not so long time ago" for elder folks, might seems like "longe time ago" for young ones - but I know of several cases from "not so long time ago", I've met them, for example a 14 year old girl that was already mom to two children, the first born when she was 12; and a very pregnant 13 years old girl.

[Megasin1]

maybe its just me but I thought human trafficking was something different and this is something else. Is it that they don't have some sort of child exploitation crime? Surely if they persecute this woman then they should also persecute all the Muslim marriages of underage girls ? I am by no means endorsing this wonans actions but with the prudish PM and his  cronies in charge of a country that allows children to leave school and go into the workforce at age 14 there are an awful lot of inconsistencies.

[Gottfrid]

26 minutes ago, khunPer said:

That's actually depending of how many years ago "many, many years ago" is - but of course I know that "not so long time ago" for elder folks, might seems like "longe time ago" for young ones - but I know of several cases from "not so long time ago", I've met them, for example a 14 year old girl that was already mom to two children, the first born when she was 12; and a very pregnant 13 years old girl.

Please continue delivering on your aspect of time, maybe it will amuse some. What I meant and that you surely understand, is that it was common and normal before, but are quite limited at present time. (Wonder how you are going to twist the time definitions this time)

[Rimmer]

A post with an altered quote that altered the meaning has been removed

[sawadee1947]

4 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Will now all mothers who send their daughters to make money in the entertainment business be charged/arrested? Or will everything continue as normal?

 

Personally I think it's up to the (adult) girls what they do and how they make money. But unfortunately there are many mothers who demand money from their daughters and who know what the girls have to do to earn that money. TiT

Agree. With 15 or older Girls know what they do and take full responsibility.

[Nojohndoe]

9 minutes ago, Gottfrid said:

Please continue delivering on your aspect of time, maybe it will amuse some. What I meant and that you surely understand, is that it was common and normal before, but are quite limited at present time. (Wonder how you are going to twist the time definitions this time)

It is still relatively "common" unfortunately in some parts of Isaan . I know of 4 x12 year old girls who have become pregnant to boys of about 15 in my village or near it in the last 2 years.

Sadly I would suspect there will be an increase in general in underage pregnancies due to school closures thus the hours in a day every day providing opportunity for bored young people.

[CharlieH]

Reported post with inapropriate remark removed.

[Gecko123]

Teen pregnancy is a problem in Thailand, but I do not believe it is at all common for Thai parents to be actively engaged in the prostitution or trafficking of their own children, and when it does occur, it is most likely due to severe family dysfunction, drug addiction, extreme poverty, or where there is a history of inter-generation prostitution within the family.

 

Children may be pressured to find employment so that their parents no longer have to pay for their support, but the idea that it is common for rural parents to pimp out their daughters in Thailand's red light districts so that they can profit from this activity is, in my opinion, absolute nonsense, a myth promulgated by bar girls in order to cast themselves in a more sympathetic light with their clientele. While it may be that some red-light district customers occasionally hear or even see anecdotal evidence that money is being sent "home," it is more often than not child support for the bar girl's own children who the parents are caring for for her benefit, with the family typically seeing next to no spillover benefit from this activity. Those are my observations from close to 20 years of living in a rural village.

Edited October 16, 2021 by Gecko123

[Pedrogaz]

6 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Will now all mothers who send their daughters to make money in the entertainment business be charged/arrested? Or will everything continue as normal?

 

Personally I think it's up to the (adult) girls what they do and how they make money. But unfortunately there are many mothers who demand money from their daughters and who know what the girls have to do to earn that money. TiT

I don't know about this....adult girls: how old is that? Is it at menstruation around 11 or 12 these days; or is it so arbitrary date, different in each country, picked by the authorities there. I'm not disagreeing with you just looking to what the practicalities would look like.

[clivebaxter]

1 hour ago, sawadee1947 said:

Agree. With 15 or older Girls know what they do and take full responsibility.

It's not a question of knowing what they want to do, it's a matter of legality 

[khunPer]

50 minutes ago, Gottfrid said:

Please continue delivering on your aspect of time, maybe it will amuse some. What I meant and that you surely understand, is that it was common and normal before, but are quite limited at present time. (Wonder how you are going to twist the time definitions this time)

13 years back now with the 14 years old girl and two children, 12 years ago with the 13 years old girl.

 

As I don't live in a rural village, I'm not up to date about what's happening right now up there. However, it's my impression - mainly from what I learned from my clever girlfriend - that there can be quite huge differences in "usual behavior" from one village to another. So in one village girls might be older - like around 15 years old or elder - whilst in another village a 15 years old girl is considered weird if she is not already mum and/or village married. I was guest at a village wedding 10 years ago between a 15 year old girl and an about double as old man.

 

We had a just 16 year old girl as combined live-in nanny and maid in 2008, and she was considered very weird in her home village. The mentioned 14 year old girl with two children was a cousin to the nanny that she brought down to the place where I live to seek work, after the nanny had been on a short holiday trip back up to her rural Isaan village. The 14 year old girl had before been working in Pattaya to support her children, but didn't fancy it, and went home. When she came down with our nanny, she stayed one night with her, and then moved out to a placed that she had been recommended for work, but she neither liked it there either, and traveled back home after a few days.

 

The 13 year old girl had finished school P6 as 12 years old and should be a domestic worker somewhere. By that time the before mentioned 16 year old girl luckily had decided to continue school - we had arranged for her in Sunday school by one of the temples, to prepare her for further education - so we agreed to take care of the 12-13 year old girl as nanny in January 2009, she would anyway be sent to work somewhere by her mom, who wanted a one off payment of 500 baht (for more lao khao) for releasing her birth certificate as ID, the girl had no ID-card. After a few months the girl would like to visit har mom and village for Songkran, and we arranged for her to travel up there in a car with other people heading home. Exactly what happened up there I don't know, but I think her mom got her fixed up with a man from a neighboring village, she never came back to us; I was little later told that she had become pregnant, and next time I was up Isaan and passed her village I saw her, very pregnant by that time and not yet 14.

[sawadee1947]

9 minutes ago, clivebaxter said:

It's not a question of knowing what they want to do, it's a matter of legality 

Sure, there are many things illegal though it's fun to do.

[Gottfrid]

13 minutes ago, khunPer said:

13 years back now with the 14 years old girl and two children, 12 years ago with the 13 years old girl.

 

As I don't live in a rural village, I'm not up to date about what's happening right now up there. However, it's my impression - mainly from what I learned from my clever girlfriend - that there can be quite huge differences in "usual behavior" from one village to another. So in one village girls might be older - like around 15 years old or elder - whilst in another village a 15 years old girl is considered weird if she is not already mum and/or village married. I was guest at a village wedding 10 years ago between a 15 year old girl and an about double as old man.

 

We had a just 16 year old girl as combined live-in nanny and maid in 2008, and she was considered very weird in her home village. The mentioned 14 year old girl with two children was a cousin to the nanny that she brought down to the place where I live to seek work, after the nanny had been on a short holiday trip back up to her rural Isaan village. The 14 year old girl had before been working in Pattaya to support her children, but didn't fancy it, and went home. When she came down with our nanny, she stayed one night with her, and then moved out to a placed that she had been recommended for work, but she neither liked it there either, and traveled back home after a few days.

 

The 13 year old girl had finished school P6 as 12 years old and should be a domestic worker somewhere. By that time the before mentioned 16 year old girl luckily had decided to continue school - we had arranged for her in Sunday school by one of the temples, to prepare her for further education - so we agreed to take care of the 12-13 year old girl as nanny in January 2009, she would anyway be sent to work somewhere by her mom, who wanted a one off payment of 500 baht (for more lao khao) for releasing her birth certificate as ID, the girl had no ID-card. After a few months the girl would like to visit har mom and village for Songkran, and we arranged for her to travel up there in a car with other people heading home. Exactly what happened up there I don't know, but I think her mom got her fixed up with a man from a neighboring village, she never came back to us; I was little later told that she had become pregnant, and next time I was up Isaan and passed her village I saw her, very pregnant by that time and not yet 14.

Thank you for the book

[Nickelbeer]

Unbelievable.

[hotchilli]

7 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Will now all mothers who send their daughters to make money in the entertainment business be charged/arrested? Or will everything continue as normal?

 

Personally I think it's up to the (adult) girls what they do and how they make money. But unfortunately there are many mothers who demand money from their daughters and who know what the girls have to do to earn that money. TiT

I guess the difference is, if the girls is working in a bar then that's excepted as employment.

This girl was being "managed" by a girl selling her services for money.

Same thing but different if you get my drift.

One is tolerated one is not.

 

[clivebaxter]

30 minutes ago, sawadee1947 said:

Sure, there are many things illegal though it's fun to do.

Pimping underaged children is not one of them though, which is the topic

[Almer]

2 hours ago, Gecko123 said:

Teen pregnancy is a problem in Thailand, but I do not believe it is at all common for Thai parents to be actively engaged in the prostitution or trafficking of their own children, and when it does occur, it is most likely due to severe family dysfunction, drug addiction, extreme poverty, or where there is a history of inter-generation prostitution within the family.

 

Children may be pressured to find employment so that their parents no longer have to pay for their support, but the idea that it is common for rural parents to pimp out their daughters in Thailand's red light districts so that they can profit from this activity is, in my opinion, absolute nonsense, a myth promulgated by bar girls in order to cast themselves in a more sympathetic light with their clientele. While it may be that some red-light district customers occasionally hear or even see anecdotal evidence that money is being sent "home," it is more often than not child support for the bar girl's own children who the parents are caring for for her benefit, with the family typically seeing next to no spillover benefit from this activity. Those are my observations from close to 20 years of living in a rural village.

Agreed money sent home is to support there youngsters

[itsari]

2 hours ago, sawadee1947 said:

Agree. With 15 or older Girls know what they do and take full responsibility.

Because the girls are aware does not make the situation legal 

I think the Netherlands have the correct laws with underage sex . If the persons are of similar age all is legal .

Not legal if there are large differentials in age.

[Bangkok Barry]

7 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Will now all mothers who send their daughters to make money in the entertainment business be charged/arrested? Or will everything continue as normal?

 

Personally I think it's up to the (adult) girls what they do and how they make money. But unfortunately there are many mothers who demand money from their daughters and who know what the girls have to do to earn that money. TiT

As you know, Thailand is famous throughout the world for its sex business. It is deeply imbedded into the culture and no law, no prosecution of one case in 10,000 that is highlighted, will change anything. Money trumps everything in Thailand. Always has, always will. Something else that will never change in Thailand is the idiocy of promoting illegal activities on social media and then being surprised when Plod shows up.

[timendres]

7 hours ago, petermik said:

Is it just because money was changing hands the authorities became involved as in the ’villages’ it is quite normal for 12 years old and up to be having sexual relationships....

I think this best explains why authorities became involved:

8 hours ago, webfact said:

Pol Lt_Gen Samran Nuanma of the metropolitan police said this was part of ongoing government efforts to tackle human trafficking of children for sex in Thailand that has seen US authorities place the country on Tier 2 of their watchlist.   

 

[BKKTRAVELER]

Just a very sad case... We can argue all day about morality, circumstances etc. but I find it devastating that this young girl is doing drugs and selling herself to actual adults.

[The Hammer2021]

16 is not a child. It's a young adult.

[The Hammer2021]

21 minutes ago, timendres said:

I think this best explains why authorities became involved:

 

The USA is much worse for Human Trafficking than Thailand, especially of children for sexual exploitation. The article below is a vivid disturbing piece of journalism.

Peter Landesman
The GirlsNext Door
from the New York Times Magazine.

[2009]

8 hours ago, Gottfrid said:

No, it´s not at all normal from the age of 12. That´s just a lot of rubbish talking. it might have been many, many years ago. However, today it still exists but is not at all something that should be described as very common or normal.

I think he means more prevalent.