Two Thai women rescued from Hong Kong brothel

[webfact]

PROSTITUTION
Two women rescued from HK brothel
Saowanee Nimpanpayungwong
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Two Thai women rescued from a Hong Kong brothel have recalled to investigators how they were forced into prostitution after being lured to the Special Administrative Region with the promise of Bt90,000-month jobs working as masseuses.

The women said the brothel owner told them they wouldn't be released until they had serviced 200 customers to repay travel expenses. Women from China and Russia were also being held captive at the brothel, the two said.

Social Development and Human Security Minister Pavena Hongsakul, whose Pavena Foundation for Children and Women received the victims' call for help, told a press conference yesterday that the women were lured to Hong Kong with the promise of the jobs by another Thai woman aged 38 - who also provided them with plane tickets for the trip on July 4.

The duo were forced to have sex with men from 7am to 2am without pay, until they escaped on July 6 and hid at the Hong Kong airport.

Having no money to buy tickets home, they called the Pavena Foundation via the Internet, prompting the foundation to alert related agencies for help.

Pavena said police were hunting for the Thai woman and those involved in the sex-trade ring. The two victims have also been put under police protection after receiving threats against their families. Pavena said the ministry would also provide counselling and financial assistance to the women following their terrible ordeal.

Anti-Human Trafficking Division (AHTD) chief Pol Maj-General Chawalit Sawaengphuet said police were gathering evidence against members of the sex trade network and expected to make arrests soon. He said the AHTD was also looking into the possibility of extraditing accomplices from Hong Kong.


-- The Nation 2013-07-11

[cgphuket]

I hope the brothel owners are imprisoned until they have served 200 other inmates.

[bigbamboo]

Trafficking is despicable but it's peculiar how nearly all the Thai prostitutes when nabbed are merely innocents abroad.

[somtampet]

Trafficking is despicable but it's peculiar how nearly all the Thai prostitutes when nabbed are merely innocents abroad.

Until you have evidence to the contary,dont assume

[bigbamboo]

Trafficking is despicable but it's peculiar how nearly all the Thai prostitutes when nabbed are merely innocents abroad.

Until you have evidence to the contary,dont assume

I could say the same thing.

[noitom]

Small time news announcements on trafficking. When we see Thai Mr. Bigs cuffed and paraded through a perp walk, then Thais can be taken seriously. Until then all their bluster and puffing about small people being freed and small time pimps being charged, the world cannot take Thais seriously on their promises to address human trafficking and sex slavery.

[TomTao]

I wonder how many of these situations were ignored, and how many women lost thier lives trying to escape sex slavery before Thailand was threatened with the human traficing watchlist. I don't recall seeing so many headlines on this subject before. I hope the women are reunited with thier families and the perpetrators are prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

[wedders]

Trafficking is despicable but it's peculiar how nearly all the Thai prostitutes when nabbed are merely innocents abroad.

Until you have evidence to the contary,dont assume

I could say the same thing.

'Guilty until proven innocent'? Many wrongfully accused (and imprisoned) people under that system. The alternative isn't perfect, but on balance it's the only way.

[DocN]

...meanwhile, in a brothel in somewhere in Thailand...

[NeverSure]

90,000 baht per month as a masseuse. I only pay $60 - 1800 baht - for a legit massage in the US. Hmmmm...

[Bellweather]

90,000 baht per month as a masseuse. I only pay $60 - 1800 baht - for a legit massage in the US. Hmmmm...

I hope no one takes this the wrong way but when you dangle that financial carrot in front of many people they never think " too good to be true ".

One of my landlady's family became involved in a business, a bar, that everyone including me told her not to touch but she only saw Baht signs so borrowed from the kind of people you don't want to owe money to and be late on payments.

She had to leave town fast when the bar failed.

[Treborz]

Hmm i wonder where this is. Probably Mongkok somewhere.

[unanimosity]

Trafficking is despicable but it's peculiar how nearly all the Thai prostitutes when nabbed are merely innocents abroad.

Until you have evidence to the contary,dont assume

So, you don't assume they are innocent?

[unanimosity]

...meanwhile, in a brothel in somewhere in Thailand...

...and captive on Thai fishing boats as forced labor ...

[johnlandy]

I hope the brothel owners are imprisoned until they have served 200 other inmates.

So you are excusing the Thai woman who procured the ho's in the first place.

And did the ho's really think that they were gonna get 90k a month for doing legit massages

[unanimosity]

I wonder how many of these situations were ignored, and how many women lost thier lives trying to escape sex slavery before Thailand was threatened with the human traficing watchlist. I don't recall seeing so many headlines on this subject before. I hope the women are reunited with thier families and the perpetrators are prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

And the poor blokes imprisoned on those fishing boats?

[joepattaya1961]

I suppose that the 2 women did teach their customers about Thainess, according to Ms. Y's request.

[soi41]

"forced to have sex with men from 7am to 2 am without pay", so if they had got the cash, no problem?

If Pavena is going to save all Thai women, "forced" into prostitution, she will be a very busy lady!

[greg71]

Greed is an attractive lure ,the women thinking they can go to foreign lands to make a killing and then the owners of these businesses .Both naive as each other shouldnt both be charged as all parties know what the real work is ?

[jbrain]

90,000 baht per month as a masseuse. I only pay $60 - 1800 baht - for a legit massage in the US. Hmmmm...

So 90.000 Baht a month would equal to less than 2 customers a day.Hmmmm

[mervyn yap]

This is what you get on a get rich fast scam:lol:

Sent from my GT-P6200 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[HerbalEd]

I hope the brothel owners are imprisoned until they have served 200 other inmates.

So you are excusing the Thai woman who procured the ho's in the first place.

And did the ho's really think that they were gonna get 90k a month for doing legit massages

I hope the brothel owners are imprisoned until they have served 200 other inmates.

So you are excusing the Thai woman who procured the ho's in the first place.

And did the ho's really think that they were gonna get 90k a month for doing legit massages

They're not as smart as you, genius.

[SOTIRIOS]

...I would like an update on the foreign woman found in the field....

...instead of calling the Pavena Foundation...they tackled her...strapped her to a board......and 'committed' her.....

[dunque]

...meanwhile, in a brothel in somewhere in Thailand...

...and captive on Thai fishing boats as forced labor ...

Ah yes, classic whataboutery which clouds the original issue with irrelevancies and somehow suggests that 2 or 3 wrongs make a right.

Saves having to think I suppose.

[hellodolly]

Trafficking is despicable but it's peculiar how nearly all the Thai prostitutes when nabbed are merely innocents abroad.

Until you have evidence to the contary,dont assume

I could say the same thing.

Why don't you two measure your physical egos by PM

This event is just the tip of the top of the iceberg. Why the Government sits on it's hands doing nothing until it is dumped in their laps is beyond me.

They should have a ongoing investigation seeking out these human traffickers and that includes the ones who are doing it with the farm workers. They wonder why they are so high on the list of human trafficking when they do nothing to stop it.

Edited July 11, 2013 by hellodolly

[TackyToo]

I wonder about the naivete of a 38 year old woman to end up in such a mess. However, it might have been pure greed.

[SteeleJoe]

...meanwhile, in a brothel in somewhere in Thailand...

...and captive on Thai fishing boats as forced labor ...

Ah yes, classic whataboutery which clouds the original issue with irrelevancies and somehow suggests that 2 or 3 wrongs make a right.

Saves having to think I suppose.

I can't stand "whataboutery" (kudos on the word!) and frequently point out it's inanity and lack of worth but DocN's comment is very, very pertinent. He's not saying, "What about (INSERT unrelated country) with their (INSERT unrelated misdeed)? They are just as bad!" is he? The story is about Thai women being freed from sexual slavery in another country and he's pointing out that the very same thing is happening to Thai women IN THAILAND but that isn't being talked about.

Maybe you yourself need to do more thinking.

Edited July 11, 2013 by SteeleJoe

[hellodolly]

I hope the brothel owners are imprisoned until they have served 200 other inmates.

So you are excusing the Thai woman who procured the ho's in the first place.

And did the ho's really think that they were gonna get 90k a month for doing legit massages

My money says they also believed Thaksin when he said he would make them rich in 6 months.

Maybe you are new to Thailand and don't know about how low the level of education is here and in some parts of the country not existent or possible because they can not buy the proper shoes.

The average Thai has no conception of the realities out side there own country. They see tourists and expats who always seem to have money and when they don't they just go to an ATM and get more.

[bigbamboo]

Trafficking is despicable but it's peculiar how nearly all the Thai prostitutes when nabbed are merely innocents abroad.

Until you have evidence to the contary,dont assume

I could say the same thing.

Why don't you two measure your physical egos by PM

This event is just the tip of the top of the iceberg. Why the Government sits on it's hands doing nothing until it is dumped in their laps is beyond me.

They should have a ongoing investigation seeking out these human traffickers and that includes the ones who are doing it with the farm workers. They wonder why they are so high on the list of human trafficking when they do nothing to stop it.

Physical egos? On an internet forum?

Go and have a lie down, Dolly!

[SteeleJoe]

I hope the brothel owners are imprisoned until they have served 200 other inmates.

So you are excusing the Thai woman who procured the ho's in the first place.

And did the ho's really think that they were gonna get 90k a month for doing legit massages

My money says they also believed Thaksin when he said he would make them rich in 6 months.

Maybe you are new to Thailand and don't know about how low the level of education is here and in some parts of the country not existent or possible because they can not buy the proper shoes.

The average Thai has no conception of the realities out side there own country. They see tourists and expats who always seem to have money and when they don't they just go to an ATM and get more.

There should be a prize for the first person who manages to work Thaksin into an unrelated topic. Well done.

As for the rest: I fear that in your well intentioned and deserved defense of Thais in this instance, you are rather paternalistic and insulting of them. (The average Thai is an ignorant and naive fool in regards to anything other than things Thai who thinks that ATM dispense infinite amount of cash to foreigners and if they go abroad that will be the case for them too? Or what?)

In any case, there's simply no doubt that many women are fooled by such promises. There is also no doubt that many women know they are being recruited for sex work. We don't know which was the case here and people pretending they do simply reveal things about themselves whichever assumption they make.