Police are on the hunt for two Thais and one Korean who they claim sold a 17-year-old girl into sexual slavery in Seoul. The girl was rescued from captivity last weekend, at which point she identified the trio that had shuttled her out of Thailand. The Criminal Court at Ratchadapisek Road later issued a warrant for their arrest.
One of the suspects, Phiangjai Kim, 37, has been identified as the victim’s aunt.
According to the girl’s narrative, Phiangjai and her accomplices tricked the youth into boarding a plane bound for Seoul earlier this month, under the false pretense that she would be provided work in a restaurant. In reality, she was sold into sexual servitude, where she serviced customers for as many as 20 hours a day.
Pol Lt Col Choosak Apaisak, an investigator at the Anti-Human Trafficking Division (AHTD), said that all three suspects are believed to be in Seoul.
The Bangkok Post reports that after her rescue, the girl wrote on her aunt’s Facebook page, “I want to apologize to you aunt. I sympathize with you. Don’t think this will be a big deal and I don’t want you to be arrested.”
Police officers handling the case asked her to delete the post, as they believed it would confuse perceptions of the investigation.
