Assets worth millions confiscated from foreigners, Thai woman allegedly running prostitution ring
An American national and his Thai girlfriend were arrested on Friday for allegedly running a website that offered prostitution services in many tourist cities.
The 48-year-old American, identified only as “Bass”, was nabbed at his house in the resort city of Hua Hin in Prachuap Khiri Khan province.
His 34-year-old Thai girlfriend, identified as Kanya (surname withheld), was caught at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport.
The couple were charged with providing prostitutes.
Police had received complaints from foreign tourists who said that they were drugged and their belongings stolen by Thai prostitutes sent from the Absolute Angels Bangkok website.
An investigation discovered that the website, which advertised itself as offering escort services in Bangkok and other tourist cities, openly offered prostitution services to foreign tourists, Immigration Bureau commander Pol Lt-General Phakphumphiphat Sujjapan told a press conference on Friday.
He said the website drew as many as 429,500 visits in July and had a list of about 80 “escorts” in many parts of the country, including Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket, Chiang Mai, and Hua Hin.
Police found that Kanya allegedly acted as the website’s administrator responsible for accepting reservations and making appointments between the call girls and their customers, while the American man was allegedly responsible for technical matters involving the website, the officer said. They both earned 40% of the charge paid by the customers.
Police seized four computers, relevant documents, and the pool villa valued at 15 million baht. Police also confiscated a Mercedes-Benz coupe valued at 3.5 million baht, a Honda sedan worth 1.8 million baht, 14 bank passbooks with deposits of about 9 million, and Thai stocks valued at 40 million baht.
Police asked the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society to block access to the website in question, according to Phakphumphiphat.
In a separate case, a South Korean national was arrested for allegedly recruiting Thai women for the sex trade in South Korea, according to Phakphumphiphat of the Immigration Bureau.
The 41-year-old man, identified only as Jinhong, was arrested at his house in Nonthaburi province.
Police also confiscated his computers. His bank passbooks were found to have deposits of over 100 million baht.
In his computers, police discovered messages that the suspect had chatted with his customers and his recruited Thai prostitutes, Phakphumphiphat told Friday’s press conference.
He said that South Korean police had alerted the Immigration Bureau about the suspect, who had entered Thailand recently on a tourist visa.
