American law officials are hoping to work more closely with Thai police to find some of the suspects in Thailand that convinced hundreds of Thai women to travel to the States where they were forced into debt bondage sex slavery.
Twelve suspects were arrested in the U.S. in the trafficking case last Tuesday and a total of 17 have been indicted. Among the named suspects are 12 Thais and five U.S. citizens. They are charged with sex trafficking, forced labor, money laundering and visa fraud.
The case first received publicity last week and the case broke in Minnesota. American law officials noticed that many Thai women, code named as “flowers,” were being moved through the airport in Minneapolis. They were brought to the suburbs to buy condoms and sex work supplies before being taken to hotel rooms or apartments and forced to perform sex acts with several men every day.
A large number of these women were moved around the country and their sex services advertised online. They were shepherded by people who were sometimes paid with sex by the women on the boss’s orders.
The American investigation has revealed that the women were not allowed to say no or have any say in where they went or what they did.
They were brought to America under the promise that their travel debt would be paid off in a few years. Actually, the crime ring forced them to spend four or five years paying off that debt, some were never told that they had paid it off.
If the women tried to escape, they were told their families would be threatened.
The investigation so far states that hundreds of women traveled from Thailand to the U.S. since 2009 as part of this trafficking ring. They ended up in cities that included Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Minneapolis, Washington and Dallas. To pay off their supposed travel and living expenses forced to work off as, much as THB2 million each.
The supposed mastermind of the operation, a Thai named Sumalee Intarathong, 55, was taken into custody in Belgium on Aug. 5 on trafficking charges. It was said that she “owned” the trafficked women until they until off their debts to the organization. Law officials are seeking her extradition from Belgium to the U.S.
So far, investigators have only spoken to a few of the victims.
The victims are spread throughout the U.S. and the government is working with NGOs to ensure that the victims also have access to services and legal help.
Officials from the U.S. are seeking help from the Thai consulate
In Thailand, Kornchai Klayklueng, commander of the division for Anti-Trafficking of Persons, stated that his agency always works with American Homeland Security on human and sex trafficking cases and that this would be the same.
He said that he hasn’t gotten any specific request for assistance yet but that his agency had already begun investigating Thais that could be involved, reported Bangkok Post.
So far, the American arm of the investigation has employed surveillance, search warrants and interviews and has shown that the trafficking operation was global and involved people in the U.S. and Thailand.
“These co-conspirators rented apartments and hotels and provided domestic and foreign transportation of the victims, laundered proceeds and committed visa fraud,” said a U.S. official.
