BANGKOK, Dec 12 – Thailand’s Department of Special Investigation (DSI) has arrested a Lao woman and two Thais for human trafficking and forcing Lao girls under age 18 into prostitution in Thailand’s far southern province of Narathiwat.
DSI Director General Tarit Pengdit said Ms Boulaphanh who carries a Lao passport and two Thai men, identified as Pricha Mongkolprajak and Paiboon Sae-Lim, were apprehended as a result of information given by a Thai man who was earlier sentenced to 50 years’ imprisonment on similar charges.
The Thai inmate, Sathit Sarawan, was jailed after the court found him guilty of human trafficking and supplying Lao girls to karaoke outlets in Narathiwat through Ms Buolaphanh.
Authorities said the three suspects have supplied at least 1,200 Lao girls to about 100 karaoke shops in Narathiwat’s Su-ngai Kolok district for more than seven years.
Ms Boulaphanh however said she has been involved in the network for less than a year with Lao parents sending their daughters to her.
She claimed that she has been involved with only eight girls in the prostitution network and received an average Bt10,000 for trafficking each girl.
Authorities also charged her with counterfeiting passports of the Lao girls and put their age over 18 years.
