British man arrested for 'human trafficking' raid at bar in Thai resort as dozens of women are loaded into police truck

[Social Media]

A British national and a Thai woman have been arrested on suspicion of human trafficking in Thailand's seedy 'Sin City' resort of Pattaya.

Cops raided the 'Flirt' bar on the area's notorious Soi 6 road - packed with dozens of sex bars - next to the beach at around 9pm on April 5.

Footage from the raid shows dozens of young women being frogmarched into a police truck and taken to the local station to be questioned.

Englishman William Reece and local woman Jaranya Deeppair, 31, were detained by police chiefs. The Brit was seen being led into the police station in what appeared to be handcuffs.

Officers said that arrest warrants had been issued against the British man on April 4 for allegedly conspiring to commit human trafficking.

[webfact]

Brit is arrested in 'human trafficking' raid at 'Flirt' bar in seedy Thai resort of Pattaya as dozens of women are loaded into police truck
By CHRIS JEWERS FOR MAIL ONLINE

 

A British national and a Thai woman have been arrested on suspicion of human trafficking in Thai 'Sin City' Pattaya. Englishman William R. and local woman Jaranya D., 31, were detained by police chiefs. The Brit was seen being led into the police station in what appeared to be handcuffs (pictured) @ViralPress

A British national and a Thai woman have been arrested on suspicion of human trafficking in Thailand's seedy 'Sin City' resort of Pattaya.

 

Cops raided the 'Flirt' bar on the area's notorious Soi 6 road - packed with dozens of sex bars - next to the beach at around 9pm on April 5.

 

Footage from the raid shows dozens of young women being frogmarched into a police truck and taken to the local station to be questioned.

 

Englishman William R. and local woman Jaranya D., 31, were detained by police chiefs. The Brit was seen being led into the police station in what appeared to be handcuffs.

 

Officers said that arrest warrants had been issued against the British man on April 4 for allegedly conspiring to commit human trafficking.

 

Full story: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11948691/Brit-arrested-human-trafficking-raid-Flirt-bar-seedy-Thai-resort-Pattaya.html

 

-- © Copyright Daily Mail 2023-04-07

 

- Cigna offers a range of visa-compliant plans that meet the minimum requirement of medical treatment, including COVID-19, up to THB 3m. For more information on all expat health insurance plans click here.

 

The most versatile and flexible rental investment and holiday home solution in Thailand - click for more information.

[Ralf001]

This a Nightwish bar and K.Reece is the manager ?

[KhunBENQ]

Quote

being ferried from poverty-stricken regions in the rural northeast of the country to serve tourists in the sex industry, where they are paid around 1,500 Baht (35 GBP) for sex.

Quote

Cops said they raided the shop but did not find any illegal substances.

The employees inside were also all above 18-years-old, the legal age for working as prostitutes in the country.

Done what all do.

Nothing substantial found.

And now?

When will all the other bars on Soi 6 be raided and carried to police station.

Seems a case of missing connections/bribes.

 

Being ferried: are they thrown in barred buses and carted to Pattaya?

Carrying ankle tags to avoid fleeing?

Hypocrisy to it's best.

[Celsius]

15 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

Seems a case of missing connections/bribes.

 

And then? What's your point? You have to pay to play.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

One of the other media reports I read on this incident seemed to be saying that all the age 18+ women bar workers that the police rounded up in this raid were being taken to the police station to be interviewed for information regarding the criminal case against the two primary suspects -- not because the young women themselves were underage.

 

Edited April 7, 2023 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[KhunBENQ]

7 minutes ago, Celsius said:

 

And then? What's your point? You have to pay to play.

And I don't know what your post means.

Just saying, not allowed?

[ningnong]

24 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

from poverty-stricken regions in the rural northeast of the country to serve tourists in the sex industry

 

24 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

The employees inside were also all above 18-years-old, the legal age for working as prostitutes in the country.

I see in the video many of the women had their cell phones in hand, indicating it was unlikely they were being held against their will.

 

From now on I will be very skeptical when the term 'human trafficking' is used in Thailand.

[orchis]

'Nightwish' a group of 27 bars, 500 employed, must have become too big to go unnoticed

[ukrules]

1 hour ago, ningnong said:

From now on I will be very skeptical when the term 'human trafficking' is used in Thailand.

Don't believe any article which uses this term. They would have you believe a 'pimp' is a human trafficker.

[swinginglow]

In the international press now brit arrested for human trafficking. Good positive press for the family resort there.

[KhaoYai]

9 hours ago, ningnong said:

From now on I will be very skeptical when the term 'human trafficking' is used in Thailand.

It undoubtedly goes on but I suspect nowhere near as much as is claimed.  I remember a few years ago in Leeds, UK when the locally famous 'Winstons' massage facility (for want of a better word) was finally raided and closed down. 

 

I say famous because such businesses are illegal in the UK and this place grew from a small back street house to a massive mock tudor decorated building, The business, complete with large neon signage, stood in the middle of a large traffic island, very close to the city centre on a major arterial road.  They were pushing their luck to say the least.

 

There were quite a few Thai girls working there at the time, my wife and I had met some of them at local Thai gatherings and restaurants. They were all free to come and go as they liked and the ones we got to know had all entered on tourist visas and simply overstayed. They seemed quite proud of the fact that they'd 'played' the UK immigration system. 

 

When the raid took place, strangley they all claimed their passports had been taken until the debt they owed the owners for getting them to the UK and providing accommodation etc. was paid. They'd been promised jobs as domestics etc. but had to sell themselves to pay off their debt. Poor things.

[AdamRich]

9 hours ago, ningnong said:

 

I see in the video many of the women had their cell phones in hand, indicating it was unlikely they were being held against their will.

 

From now on I will be very skeptical when the term 'human trafficking' is used in Thailand.

That is because most people do not understand the definition of human trafficking. It is not saying the person is doing something against their will. It merely means the facilitation of a person from one place to another for the purpose of paid sex. So if the manager paid for a ticket from Isaan to Pattaya for a girl to work at the bar then that is human trafficking. If you paid a bar girl from Pattaya to go on holiday to Krabi with you, then that is also human trafficking.

[spermwhale]

More like they came on their own accord to make money again like many other rural girls. I have not met a single bar girl who is an indentured servant and is not there of her own free will. Plust they were all above 18 and no drugs were found.

 

Interesting that they singled this bar out though, considering that every other bar has the same types of girls, young and who came from upcountry. BUTif the cops  really tried to dig deeper they would surely find really illegal operations where minors are held. 

 

Someone posted above that perhaps they didn't bribe the boys in brown, which sounds about right. 

[scorecard]

10 hours ago, Celsius said:

 

And then? What's your point? You have to pay to play.

Maybe he's on overstay?

[hotchilli]

11 hours ago, Social Media said:

A British national and a Thai woman have been arrested on suspicion of human trafficking in Thailand's seedy 'Sin City' resort of Pattaya.

And I thought it was known globally as the Family friendly resort.

This comes as quite a shock.

[hotchilli]

10 hours ago, ningnong said:

From now on I will be very skeptical when the term 'human trafficking' is used in Thailand.

It's a loose term which can be used successfully against foreign owned bars who attempt to do Thai jobs.

[4MyEgo]

2 hours ago, AdamRich said:

That is because most people do not understand the definition of human trafficking. It is not saying the person is doing something against their will. It merely means the facilitation of a person from one place to another for the purpose of paid sex.

Actually: There are three common types of human trafficking: the sex trade, forced labor, and domestic servitude. The economic sectors that profit most from human trafficking are agriculture, restaurants, manufacturing, domestic work, entertainment, hospitality, and the commercial sex industry.

 

In Thailand if you don't pay your monthly tea money to the bent cops, they will keep at you till they shut you down and or put you in jail for either any of the above, or plant an underaged girls from one of their own Karaoke bars up country, or plant some drugs in your establishment.

 

The farang should cough up or close down, because when in Thailand, you do as Thai do when it comes to the cops.

[Drumbuie]

1 hour ago, AdamRich said:

That is because most people do not understand the definition of human trafficking. It is not saying the person is doing something against their will. It merely means the facilitation of a person from one place to another for the purpose of paid sex. So if the manager paid for a ticket from Isaan to Pattaya for a girl to work at the bar then that is human trafficking. If you paid a bar girl from Pattaya to go on holiday to Krabi with you, then that is also human trafficking.

The definition of the term 'human trafficking' covers a lot more purposes than 'paid sex'.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_trafficking

[jacko45k]

11 hours ago, ningnong said:

I see in the video many of the women had their cell phones in hand, indicating it was unlikely they were being held against their will.

You mean by the bar or by the police? I doubt they really wanted to go to the police station, and despite the image The Daily Wail wants to create, they are working in the bars by their choice. 

[Ralf001]

28 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

 

The farang should cough up or close down, because when in Thailand, you do as Thai do when it comes to the cops.

The farang arrested is the scapegoat/manager so not his call to close it down. .

[Mickeymaus]

Now it becomes clear why they never found prostitutes in Pattaya. Apparently they were hiding in Soi 6... 

[mikebell]

Hypocrisy, plain and simple. Many of the bars AKA brothels on Soi Sex are police owned.  Those that are not are police 'protected' AKA 'extorted'.

[jacko45k]

Just now, mikebell said:

Hypocrisy, plain and simple. Many of the bars AKA brothels on Soi Sex are police owned.  Those that are not are police 'protected' AKA 'extorted'.

I am not sure about that... quite a lot of them are part of The Nightwish Group and as such not police owned. I am sure they are required to toe some line to be allowed to trade. 

[Bangkok Barry]

11 hours ago, ningnong said:

From now on I will be very skeptical when the term 'human trafficking' is used in Thailand.

It's just another English word that Thais use without understanding what it means. You know, like blocks of cheap apartment rooms they call 'mansions', And 'mafia', mostly in relation to small-time crooks. 

[Gknrd]

Just another farang working illegally in Thailand. That is a Thai job not a farang.

 

[Darksidedude]

Yet another bar owner not wanting to supply brown envelopes, cant win there

[ignore it]

Frogmarch redefined I guess. 

 

I always have to pay extra to get one of the girls to do it frogmarch walk style.

Edited April 8, 2023 by ignore it

[champers]

What is that law about only 4 people being allowed in the back of a pickup?

[worldexpress]

How many police chiefs are involved in the arrest and what kind of handcuffs do they use to make witnesses to question if they were, in fact, handcuffs? Hmm..