Pattaya’s police chief was demoted today after apparently failing to help a trafficked Kyrgyz woman who sought help before her death.
Col. Kulchat Kulchai this morning was transferred to an inactive post after Anara Seitaleva, a 30-year-old woman from Kyrgyzstan, fell to her death Friday from a condominium in the seaside enclave famous for its high rate of crime. Police also found roughly THB10,000 in bank notes scattered around her body.
A few days before her death, Seitaleva had gone to the police for help, saying a “Chinese gang” had lured into prostitution in Thailand instead of the tourism-related job she was promised.
The local court approved warrants for the arrest of three alleged human traffickers from China and Hong Kong – Nin Wai Siu, 48; Song Qianli, 32; and Rou Li, 27.
Police also detained a Chinese man identified as Wang Lang, who’s believed to have links to the Chinese trio, for questioning.
Seitaleva arrived in July via Suvarnabhumi Airport. First she was taken to the north of Thailand and Laos where she was made to assist in call center scams, according to her detailed complaint to police. After that, she was taken back to Bangkok and pressed into sex work in late July. In mid-September, the woman escaped and fled to Pattaya, where she sought help from the police.
Investigators have yet to conclude whether foul play was involved in her death.
