Did anybody know about this news?

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?...+'human+traffickers'

or Thai Version here

http://www.thairath.com/offline.php?section=hotnews&content=87135

Nana

Yes, this was on the BBC TV news on Monday morning, and is also reported here .... click here.

The Thai TV channels spent the best part of Wednesday talking about little else but the above. It has been given a lot of airtime over here. Barely a mention on the English speaking news channels though.

Here's a follow up story today from the Bangkok Post:

London raids may result in arrest of Thai connection

I heard about this last week. If anyone in the Thai Community comes across one of the victims who may need assistance by reason she may fear the traffickers please pm me or use the resources here

http://www.ein.org.uk/resources/printfriendly2.shtml?x=227892

Anti Trafficking Legal Forum

Richard

ps in the long run it is possible these women can take civil actions against the traffickers assets "pigybacking" criminal confiscation proceedings.

I do feel really sorry for all of that women and also I hope it's not gonna be even more harder rule to get VISA if you are from Thailand.

Just think about it was quite hard for us before we get to this point and how about other couples who just start their relationship and wish to bring thier love one here.

I can assure you that the majority of these girls are not "victims" and knew full well what they were doing, as most were voluntarily in the UK after personally arranging their contracts in Thailand.

I also feel they have gone after an easy target, rather than the more insidious side of the industry that is run by the Chinese and Eastern European gangs - where the girls genuinely live in fear and are coerced into working.

quote:

I can assure you that the majority of these girls are not "victims" and knew full well what they were doing, as most were voluntarily in the UK after personally arranging their contracts in Thailand

That is what my wife is hearing as well. And as you said lucky they aren't mixed up with the eastern European Mafia.

quote:

I can assure you that the majority of these girls are not "victims" and knew full well what they were doing, as most were voluntarily in the UK after personally arranging their contracts in Thailand.

Please can i ask are you a policeman if not how do you know that they knew what they were doing.

quote:

Originally posted by johnboy:

quote:

I can assure you that the majority of these girls are not "victims" and knew full well what they were doing, as most were voluntarily in the UK after personally arranging their contracts in Thailand.

Please can i ask are you a policeman if not how do you know that they knew what they were doing.

It's an extremely common scenario and Thai girls have been using and abusing it for years.

Most people do not see the whole story. Of course there is exploitation occurring, the fact that they are having to work off £20K+ of debts first is ridiculous but look at it from their side. They earn pitiful wages, if at all, back in Thailand. They arrange with a contact in Thailand to work overseas, who arranges all the paperwork, passports and visas - often in false names, and then pays for the girl to fly into the UK (these girls are not smuggled in containers)

Once in the UK they work off their contract but are allowed to keep some of their money, even at this stage they are getting more than they were in Thailand. After 4-6 months they have paid off their contract and are totally free agents, potentially earning £6K+ a month.

Once caught they plead innocent and say they were tricked. Of course this is easy in the West now where prostitution is often seen as a type of violence towards women.

This was a very open operation, the websites were very professional done, had professional photos, were run on commercial webhosting servers, with high ranking Google adwords, the girls photos were online for all to see and the girls all had their own phones and apartments. There was absolutely nothing hidden about what they were doing.

It's an easy win for police and immigration IMO.

Incidentally I worked on a facial recognition system for immigration in NZ before terrorism became fashionable - one of the main reasons was to recognise Thai prostitutes who would repeatedly get caught, sent back to Thailand, change their name, get a completely new passport and then return several weeks later. They abused so much that they eventually had to change visa regulations.

Thanks for the reply
I personally know of 1 Thai lady who came over to England to work as an au pair this was set up in Thailand, when she got to England she was forced into prostitution she managed to escape and go to her nearest police station who then made arrangements with some one else and managed to get her back to Thailand. Perhaps she was lucky.

Of course there are genuine cases of trickery, or even cases where girls have thought they were going to live with Western boyfriends only to be forced into sexual slavery.

But the simple fact is that it isn't necessary. There are literally tens of thousands of bargirls and the like in Thailand that would volunteer themselves to do the job and hence there is little need for any coercion, however the pimps obviously take great advantages of them.

quote:

Of course there are genuine cases of trickery, or even cases where girls have thought they were going to live with Western boyfriends only to be forced into sexual slavery.

I am sure this is definitely true, and tragic.
However many of the people(female)involved in this story are very well known to many in my part of London and,uh, were certainly appraised of the nature of their employment. Some are on 4th and 5th visit through the old post the passport with the visa in it back to your friend scheme.
The men involved are less well-known.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/breakingnews.php?id=127447

UPDATE: Couple held for UK human trafficking

By Wassayos Ngamkham

Police yesterday arrested a man and a woman suspected of being part of a gang involved in the trafficking of Thai women to brothels in England.



Pol Maj-Gen Wimol Pao-in, head of the Children, Juveniles and Women Division, said police, with assistance from the Social Development and Human Security Ministry, arrested Worapoj Pitayanukul, 60, and Pilaiporn Sathienthanakorn, 54, on charges of luring Thai women into prostitution in England.



Mr Worapoj was arrested at his house in Nonthaburi’s Bang Kruai district and Mrs Pilaiporn was taken into custody at her house in Bangkok’s Din Daeng district yesterday.



The arrests came after Pongpoj Pitayanukul, 31, and nine other people were caught in England on April 21 on charges of trafficking and procuring women for prostitution. Mr Pongpoj is Mr Worapoj’s son. Pol Maj-Gen Wimol said the gang had promised to secure decent jobs in England for the women.



The victims were told to change their surnames to Pilaiporn.



The gang then took them on a tour of Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries so they could get visa stamps from different countries in their passports to create a good impression and a reliable record of their travel before entering England.



Before leaving for England, the women were made to sign a loan agreement which landed them in a debt of about 700,000 baht each, Pol Maj-Gen Wimol said.



After arriving in England, the women were sold to a Malaysian agent who then took them to brothels in Plymouth, where they were forced to work as prostitutes.



British police uncovered the gang after one of the victims escaped and asked for their help, Pol Maj-Gen Wimol said.



The other members of the procurement gang are still at large.



They include Jirapa Srivicha, Pacharee Wongyai, a woman identified only as Joo, a man named Jack, and two men sharing the name of Mark from Britain and Malaysia.



Both Mr Worapoj and Mrs Pilaiporn denied the charges brought against them.



Mr Worapoj said he had sent his two sons, including Mr Pongpoj, to study in Britain. Later, his business ran into problems and his sons complained about not receiving money from him.



Mr Worapoj said he only knew that his sons worked for an advertising website and had no idea that they may be involved in the flesh trade.



He said he had visited them on several occasions but was not aware they may be connected to a human trafficking gang.



Mrs Pilaiporn said she had nothing to do with the alleged procurement and insisted she did not know Mr Worapoj.