A stock image of Sanchaung township, Yangon. CREATIVE COMMONS
Three illegal massage parlors have been shut down and 23 people arrested in Sanchaung township hours after a newspaper exposed part of the area as ‘Yangon’s Pat Pong’.
The raids came after The Voice Weekly ran a story on April 25 comparing the lane off Baho Road, where beauty salons were operating as massage parlors, to the notorious Bangkok neighbourhood.
Three managers were jailed for three months while 20 female staff were imprisoned for seven days, according to the Myanmar Times.
When the newspaper visited, there had been a bizarre attempt to cover up the entrance to one of the businesses with pot plants.
“There are now no massage parlors masquerading as beauty salons in Sanchaung township,” U Lin Ko Ko, director of the Yangon Region government office, told the newspaper.
“The apartments they occupied will be restored to their owners after they have signed a pledge not to rent their property out to that kind of business again.”
Sex work is illegal in Myanmar but frequently happens at massage parlors, beauty salons, karaoke lounges and guest houses.
Ko Khin Soe, a Sanchaung resident quoted by the newspaper, predicted that the houses of ill repute would be back soon.
“Police regularly close those illegal massage parlours but then they open again shortly afterwards,” he said. “This case is only famous because of the feature in [The Voice] journal.”
Photo: Creative Commons
