Roundup: 72 Lao girls rescued from flesh trade in central Thailand

Seventy-two Lao females were rescued from forced prostitution in a central province of Thailand on Thursday, police said.

The police, attached to the Anti-Human-Trafficking Division, raided four karaoke lounges in Supanburi province's Songpeenong district in the wee hours to rescue the young Lao girls, aged between 13 and 20 years, following tip-offs from villagers that they had been lured and forced by suspected human traffickers into flesh trade over the past several months.

The Lao girls had been allegedly told by the karaoke lounge keepers that they would be hired as "waitresses" at those places.

But they had eventually been turned into night-time prostitutes who had been denied free travels anywhere outside of the neighborhood, the police said.

The lounge keepers allegedly charged their customers a range of 700 to 1,000 baht in cash in exchange for one-hour stay with each of the Lao prostitutes at roadside inns nearby.

Most of the Lao girls had been allegedly compelled into " entertaining" their customers more than once in one night, the police said.

Some had been provided with seedy rooms less than 100 meters away from the karaoke lounges to stay with their guests.

Several Thais, including the lounge keepers, were arrested on charges of human trafficking while the 72 victims are yet to be returned to their home country, the police said.

The Thai authorities earlier pledged to combat human trafficking including those who may have brought young females from neighboring countries such as Laos and Myanmar to serve flesh trade in the Thai capital, outlying areas and the provinces.

The Supanburi area where the forced prostitution, preying on illegal migrant females, had thrived over the last few years is barely 60 km northwest of the Thai capital.

Female migrants might possibly be hired illegally at construction sites, manufacturing factories, restaurants and houses, besides being lured into prostitution. Endi