A total of 32 Lao women, two of them underage, were arrested in raids on brothels in downtown Udon Thani late Tuesday night. Photo by Yuttapong Kumnodnae. Udon Thani governor Noparat Singsakda on Wednesday announced the arrests at a press conference at the provincial hall.
The raids followed complaints that many Lao women were providng sex services in Muang district, he said. The caretakers and Lao women ran away. Some tried to hide inside the brothels. In the second operation, authorities went to Soi Thungsawang 2 in Muang district and arrested eight Lao women at two other brothels in the area. All 32 Lao women from the four brothels, and the caretaker, were taken to the provincial hall for questioning and legal proceedings. The brothel operators remained at large.
Most of the women told police they had not been forced into the flesh trade. They said the brothel operators collected 2, baht a month from each of them. All the women's passports and border pass documents had been seized for examination. Ms Teep, the brother caretaker, was charged with procuring women for prositution.
A source said anti-human trafficking police had raided brothels at these locations twice before the New Year holiday. During the raids, some Lao sex workers and brothel caretakers were apprehended. Passports seized from those Lao women showed they were aged over Four Chinese men have been arrested for begging in Bangkok, with bogus stories to draw public sympathy that allowed them to earn 2, baht a day each.
Senior public health officials insist the hazardous substances committee neither eased nor delayed the ban on three toxic farm chemicals, as the industry minister announced.
