A woman known as Madam Poo was arrested in Thailand’s Chonburi province on Monday night for allegedly trafficking underage girls into the sex trade after finding them on Facebook.
Thipaporn Maneenoi, aka Madam Poo, 36, is suspected of recruiting young girls to work in brothels in Bangkok and Nakhon Ratchasima, including her own daughter, 18, who alleges that her mother forced her into sex work.
Thipaporn was arrested in Chonburi, a province two hours away from Bangkok, after evading authorities several times, according to Anti-Trafficking in Persons Division (ATPD) Chief Kornchai Klayklueng.
She claimed that the teen girls consented to doing sex work, which is contradicted by statements made by the young women themselves, reported Bangkok Post.
She is being charged with human trafficking and depriving minors of care. Police have made an application to detain her while they investigate.
Her arrest and the ongoing investigation are related to a raid last Tuesday on V2 Entertainment, a massage parlour in Bangkok’s Lat Phrao area.
That night, a male receptionist was arrested on charges of rape and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking. Later, three state officials and one resort employee in Nakhon Ratchasima were arrested over allegations of underage sex trafficking in Nakhon Ratchasima, a small city northeast of Bangkok.
The officials—an administration chairman, assistant district officer, and a community head—face charges of gang-raping a child, and the resort worker was charged with rape.
The investigation began last month, when the parents of a runaway girl, 14, asked for help finding their daughter, who they believed had been lured into sex work by Thipaporn.
ATPD officers located four girls after raiding a hotel in Nakhon Ratchasima on tips from the parents. Among them was the couple’s missing daughter. Further investigation led them to V2 Entertainment, where they found Thipaporn’s daughter and other young women that were brought there for sex work.
Reader Interactions