Police put on a show of “cleaning up” Pattaya Beach by launching one of their periodic and ineffective, prostitution sweeps.
About 20 female and transgender streetwalkers were picked up – including a group of African women – around 1 a.m. Feb. 24. The Thais were freed to return to work after paying a fine.
The showy operation for the press came after a scandalous U.K. tabloid-newspaper story that claimed Pattaya was the “sex capital of the world”.
For a few moments, at least, police could say the beach was free of prostitution.
The foreign women were turned over to immigration authorities for investigation and possible deportation.
