DILI MASSAGE PARLOUR

15 women file complaint

Wassayos Ngamkham

Fifteen of 21 Thai women rescued from a massage parlour-cum-brothel in East Timor have sought legal action against a Thai couple who allegedly lured them into the sex trade.

The women, aged 14-18, yesterday filed complaints with the Crime Suppression Division against Chatchapat Siritrakarnkul and his wife Chinda, saying the couple had lured them into prostitution at the Hava Fitness Thai massage parlour in East Timor's capital Dili.

They claimed Mr Chatchapat had recruited many women from northern Thailand to go to Dili to work at the massage parlour run by his wife and a Singaporean man called David Ho.

They said Mr Chatchapat demanded a travel fare of 60,000 baht from each of the recruits, who were also forced to work without pay at the massage parlour to pay off another 60,000-baht debt per head. The couple and Mr Ho were arrested on March 27 by UN forces. They were later sentenced to four months' imprisonment for running a brothel. Fifteen of the women were sent back to Thailand by the Thai embassy on April 19, while the other six remained in Dili as witnesses.

Pol Maj-Gen Chatchawal Suksomjit, head of the centre for women's rights protection, has ordered an investigation to find out how three women under 18 could leave the country to find work overseas, which was against the law.

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Three women hide their faces while at the Crime Suppression Division headquarters. They were part of the 15 Thai women who yesterday lodged a complaint with the CSD that they had been lured into prostitution in East Timor. — Boonnarong Bhudhipanya

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