An Iranian man has been arrested for allegedly trafficking women from Uzbekistan for prostitution in Pattaya.
Jassem Mohammad Abdulla Almazroee, 33, was taken into custody by Pattaya Tourist Police Dec. 18 after an Uzbek woman said she escaped from the Iranian, who was forcing her to work in Pattaya’s sex industry.
Police hold Iranian Jassem Mohammad Abdulla Almazroee, accused of human trafficking.
The 20-year-old victim told police Almazroee had promised her that a job working as a masseuse would pay for her plane ticket and fronted her 10,000 baht. When she arrived, however, she found she was only one of several women forced into prostitution. If they tried to escape or refused to do as he asked, Almazroee would burn them with cigarettes, she said.
She and three friends contacted tourist police as they worked Walking Street. Investigators rescued them from a low-rent South Pattaya hotel afterward.
Police said the Iranian was one of only seven men running the operation, the rest of whom are still at large.
