Two arrested for sex trafficking

A man and a woman have been arrested and charged with sex trafficking in separate cases, police told a press conference yesterday.

Boonlert Timthong, 36, the owner of a restaurant in Kanchanaburi's Muang district, was arrested in a sting operation for allegedly forcing six women from Myanmar to work as prostitutes. Anti-Human Trafficking Division police said they found four of the women, including a 17-year-old, at a karaoke bar run by the man.

Police said Boonlert confessed to buying all six women from a broker and forcing them to work as prostitutes to pay off tens of thousands of baht each.

A foundation working with the Anti-Trafficking Coordination Unit Northern Thailand (TRAFCORD) reported the alleged sex-trafficking activities at the karaoke bar to the police.

According to TRAFCORD, Boonlert forced the women to work as prostitutes, initially claiming each of the victims owed him about Bt70,000. Despite their having worked for him for two months, he later claimed that the debt had increased to Bt87,300 each.

The division also charged Prapaporn Chantakitnukul, 48, with forcing a 16-year-old schoolgirl to work as a prostitute in Si Sa Ket's Kantharalak district. Police arrested Prapaporn in a sting operation after she allegedly took the girl to a hotel to work as a prostitute. Prapaporn denied the allegation.

According to the Thailand Country Report of the 2012 Trafficking in Persons Report, the government does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. The government has not shown evidence that it is increasing efforts to address human trafficking compared with the previous year; therefore, Thailand is placed on the Tier 2 Watch List for a third consecutive year, according to the report.