Arrest warrants awaited for 23 suspected rapists in Chiang Mai

Arrest warrants are expected to be issued shortly for 23 Thai males who allegedly raped three under-aged girls in Chiang Mai province, police said on Tuesday.

The suspected rapists allegedly perpetrated the crime in separate, unrelated cases, however. Those who have sex with adolescents aged as young as 15 years or below is considered have committed the crime of a rapist under Thai law.

Those who had allegedly paid some money in exchange for illegal sex with the girls, aged 13 to 15 years, range from local politicians, army officers and government officials to university lecturers, the police said.

The unidentified suspects had been customers of flesh trade with the young girls through a woman pimp in downtown Chiang Mai, about 700 kilometers north of the Thai capital.

Of the 23 rapist suspects, only two have been arrested while 21 others are still at large, the police said, adding that the arrest warrants would be issued from court very shortly.

One of the two arrested suspects is an army major who was released under bail. He was earlier attached to an army combat unit in the northern province.

In the flesh trade, the three girls allegedly were forced to sleep with the army officer altogether for a 2,000 baht (55.5 U.S.dollars)pay, the police said. Enditem