Police launch Bahrain sex probe
WASSAYOS NGAMKHAM
A highly-organised prostitution ring supplying Thai women to the booming market of Bahrain is the first target of the new police Transnational Sex Trafficking Unit. A Thai prostitute in Bahrain said: ”Bahrain is a lucrative destination for us. Many women are said to have made a million in less than a year.”
Though most Thai prostitutes in Bahrain are working there of their own volition, this is still regarded as transnational human trafficking, said Pol Maj-Gen Kamronwit Toopkrachang, chief of the Crimes Against Children, Juveniles and Women Suppression Division, which oversees the unit.
Police launch Bahrain sex probe
WASSAYOS NGAMKHAM
A highly-organised prostitution ring supplying Thai women to the booming market of Bahrain is the first target of the new police Transnational Sex Trafficking Unit. A Thai prostitute in Bahrain said: ”Bahrain is a lucrative destination for us. Many women are said to have made a million in less than a year.”
Though most Thai prostitutes in Bahrain are working there of their own volition, this is still regarded as transnational human trafficking, said Pol Maj-Gen Kamronwit Toopkrachang, chief of the Crimes Against Children, Juveniles and Women Suppression Division, which oversees the unit.
Unit chief Jaruwat Waisaya said there had been complaints from sex workers about slave-like working conditions, with some claiming to have been tricked and forced into prostitution. This prompted his team to head to Bahrain early this month to investigate.
Talks with the Thai ambassador to Manama, the capital, and some sex workers confirmed the illegality of the human trade, said Pol Col Jaruwat. He declined to give details.
A source leaked the unit’s confidential report, which said that of the 8,000 Thais living in Bahrain thousands were women engaged in the thriving flesh trade, which pays 10 times more than the rate they get back home.
Bahrain has become a draw for sex workers from eastern Europe and Africa and Asia _ including Laos, Burma, China, the Philippines, India, Russia, Turkey, Egypt, Morocco and Ethiopia.
According to the report, Thai sex workers ply their trade in locations ranging from coffee shops, Thai massage outlets, nightspots and five-star hotels.
Most of them typically solicit customers at massage shops in the so-called Thai town of Adliy.
The source quoted the report as saying: ”Agents, known as ‘Mae Tak,’ oversee Thai sex workers in Bahrain until they earn enough [to pay off their debts].”
After repaying the on-arrival expenses of around 130,000-180,000 baht each to Mae Tak, they can return home or work freelance.
Many women did go there voluntarily, but were tricked into working as prostitutes.
Without passports or cash, they were kept in brothels until their on-arrival expenses were covered.
The source said the unit was trying to reach the sex workers to round up their recruiters in Thailand and agents in Bahrain.
The unit was also studying Thai and Bahraini laws and coordinating with its Bahraini counterparts in preparation for a crackdown on the ring, said the source.
Due to the unit’s lack of funding and equipment, the Foreign Affairs Ministry has footed the initial investigation bills.