Quick links. Thai sex slaves staff the forest brothels World news discussion forum. But when darkness falls, mattresses and cardboard sheets are laid on the ground - ready for business. Instantly, the area is transformed into a makeshift love camp - a hotbed of sex, gambling and other illegal activities. The issue of forest brothels, where foreign workers go for cheap sex, caught international attention when the Bangkok Post reported last Sunday that Thai women were trafficked every year to remote locations in Singapore where they were held as 'sex slaves'.
A Thai academic here backs up the report, adding that such vice parties are still happening almost every weekend in various parts of the island. Where there is demand, there will be supply. It is almost impossible for the police to be conducting raids every week at various parts of the island.
The barren field near Pasir Ris had been a haven for gamblers and foreign workers seeking cheap sex. In March, the police found another forest brothel in Yishun operated by Thai nationals. The existence of such vice dens first came to light after the murder of a Thai man in by two other Thai men in a forest hideout off Boon Lay Way.
The group had been fighting over an illegal Thai immigrant - a prostitute who also helped sell drugs. The police raided the site and flushed out people, including 23 women, all of whom were Thais. Said Dr Pattana, who teaches English to Thai workers on Sundays at the Golden Mile Complex: 'I've personally witnessed such activities in four to five different locations in Singapore last year and this year.
The article estimated that several hundred women worked in Singapore's forest brothels at any one time. The Bangkok Post reported that those interviewed speculated that policing of such brothels is 'rare because they're silent, out-of-sight operations that don't cause trouble for Singapore or its citizens'.
