This content was originally published by Radio Free Asia, and it is now being reprinted with permission.
Eight Chinese women have been detained by authorities in Thailand, including one who worked as their mistress and seven of whom had illegally entered the country to work as prostitutes.
The seven people were detained at a music club in the Bang Pakong city of Thailand’s southwestern province of Chachoengsao, according to the Thai Department of Special Investigation’s Anti-Trafficking in Person Unit, which is responsible for the country’s Department of Special Investigation. The seventh person is the family of the restaurant’s owner.  ,
The seven girls who were detained on April 4 are still in prison, are awaiting test, and will eventually be deported to Laos, according to a police commander in the Bang Pakong area on Monday.
The sex business is physically improper in Thailand, but laws against it are  , rarely enforced. Government do, but, more completely enforce immigration laws.
Citizens from Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar are typically permitted to work in Thailand in only certain occupations, such as construction, but not in restaurants or pleasure establishments, according to Col. Pattanapong Sripinproh of the Anti-Traiking in People System.  ,
” They are not allowed to work as table women or drink ladies”, he said. ” If they do, they’ll get arrested”.
According to Sripinproh, officers were able to apprehend the eight women by posing as johns while going underground.
One of our police officers allegedly accepted to pay 2, 000 baht ($ 54 ) for sex with one of the women at the karaoke bar, explaining that the hotel owner and the bar owner receive their share of the proceeds, and the woman would receive about 1, 300 baht ($ 36 ) for the transaction.
The police officials looked at the table after seeing that seven women had been working improperly.
” Based on the law on foreign workers … , the violators will be fined up to 10, 000 baht ( US$ 272 ) and/or jailed for two months”, he said, but acknowledged that in most cases there is no fine or jail time. Rather, the women are typically deported and placed on blacklist for two centuries.
He added that if the husband and wife were found guilty of human trafficking, they may spend up to 20 years in prison.
” But in these circumstances we found out that those seven girls are older than 20 and none of them were forced to prostitution”, said Sripinproh. ” So, the husband and wife wo n’t be charged with human trafficking. However, they will be accused of operating an illegal business while also offering physical service.
RFA reported in March that four Chinese people had been detained in the local Chonburi province’s Ban Bueng city after entering the country fraudulently and working as brothels. They admitted to selling sex after telling Thai authorities they had stayed in Thailand as visitors and had stayed in a hotel.
