The Pattaya Immigration Police were requested by the Embassy of Laos to assist them in helping some women from Laos who were being forced to work as prostitutes at a karaoke bar in Sattahip.
The embassy had been contacted by a 21 year old woman named Joy who stated that she and other women were not allowed to leave the premises and that they had received no money for the work they did, she also stated that on the odd occasion when any of the girls escaped the owner would pay a bribe to the police to bring the girls back.
All these ladies from Laos were working as prostitutes against their will.
The police acquired a search warrant and set up a sting operation whereby a man acting as a tourist entered the karaoke bar armed with some marked notes and made the acquaintance of one of the ladies who agreed to have sex with him for 1,200 baht.
However the money was not taken by the lady but rather by 48 year old Ms. Orawan Montaa once the transaction was made the man signaled the police who charged in brandishing the search warrant.
The police found seventeen women from Laos in the bar who were working illegally in Thailand they also confiscated timetables, record sheets, food bills, sheets showing transactions for sexual services, condoms & tampons.
The police detained the seventeen women and arrested the owner Jae Aom who will now await her day in court as for the woman named Joy who had originally contacted the embassy, she was nowhere to be found and the police suspect that she had already made her escape.
