Police and Ministry of Social Development and Human Security officials raided the clubs shortly after the midnight after a tip from a Lao year-old teen who had called the Paveena Foundation's hotline on Dec 1. Photo by Apichit Jinakul. Women's-protection advocates and the Foundation president Paveena Hongsakul said the girl claimed she, her sister and several friends had been tricked into working as waitress at a karaoke bar named New Kalong in tambon Thung Khok of Song Phi Nong district.
After three days she said she had been forced into prostitutions there while her sisters and friends were subjected to to the same at adjacent three karaoke shops - Nong Great, Saeng Chan, and Nong Mai - next door.
Paveena Foundation staffers clandestinely observed the goings-on at the club following the girl's complaint. Then Ministry officials and police planned their raid, eventually rescuing All four shops are connected via a rear section where more than small rooms are used for prostitution.
The police found that the karaoke clubs had Laotian teens, aged between years old, working. All the owners were first charged with offering prostitution services. The ministry would later question all victims before deciding to file other charges.
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. Civilians continue to flee into Thailand to escape clashes between Myanmar government troops and Mon fighters across the border from Kanchanaburi.
