Sanit Promwong, director general of the Land Transport Department, said a draft law to implement the ban was being reviewed by the Office of the Council of State and would be debated at public hearings as required by Article 77 of the new Constitution.

He said the law was expected to be enacted in June, after which all new vehicles must have been registered to have license plates before they can be driven.

Currently, new vehicles can be driven for up to 30 days with temporary plates, while the permanent ones are being registered.

Pending the new law’s enactment, the owner of any vehicle that continues to carry red license plates after the 30-day leniency period will face a fine of Bt10,000, Sanit said.

He added that his department had streamlined the registration process and it could be completed in just one day.

Thossapol Thangsubutr, the department’s director general, said onMonday that his department had asked the Digital Economy and Society Ministry to close 10 offending websites after the copyright owners filed complaints that they were selling pirated goods.

Thossapol said his department was gathering evidence that would enable the ministry to close 20 other websites, too.

He said his department had also asked the Revenue Department to conduct tax investigations against people who profited from selling pirated goods on well-known sites including Facebook and Instagram.

Pikhanet said officials had already started drafting a directive for OCPB secretary general Prasit Chalermwutthisak to sign and approve the ban as soon as possible.

The OCPB had earlier issued a directive to require sellers of hydrogen balloons to stick labels on balloons warning that they can catch fire, he said, but accidents and injuries still occurred so the office had decided to ban them altogether.

The Office had investigated and found that the dangerous hydrogen balloons were often sold directly in front of schools, Pikhanet added.

MORE THAN 20 of the 113 women detained by authorities following last Friday’s Department of Investigation (DSI) raid on Victoria Secret’s massage parlour are probably victims of a human trafficking network, according to authorities.

Meanwhile, some police officers were found to have used the parlour’s services free of charge, said a senior anti-human trafficking official.

Pol Maj-General Ittipol Ittisarnronnachai, deputy chief of immigration police, said authorities were cross-checking with neighbouring countries the documents of more than 20 of the 113 women to see if they had been victims of human trafficking, but at least two were obviously victims, based on a preliminary investigation.

Of the 113 women rescued from Victoria Secret, 96 are from Myanmar, 11 from Laos, four are Thai and two Chinese. Ittipol said Thai authorities were contacting their counterparts in other countries about the nationalities and ages of the women to complete their investigation.

Ronnasit Preukyachiva, the chief investigator of an anti-human trafficking organisation, said authorities had also found a list of police officers using the message parlour’s service free of charge inside a cashier’s room during the DSI raid. The list included names and dates covering the month of September last year.

According to one list, officers from the local police station as well as immigration police used the services at Victoria Secret free of charge on 14 occasions, with each of the people named on the list. As a result, five officers from the Wang Thong Lang police station, where the parlour is situated, have been suspended from duty.

International reputation

Ronnasit said police and other state officials had to be more transparent in tackling human trafficking problems so they should not be involved in the illegal activities themselves because the international community closely monitored the situation in Thailand.

On Thailand’s status regarding Trafficking in Persons (TIP), he said it was too early to comment on whether the latest development would negatively affect the country’s status, but relevant authorities were all trying to close loopholes to make sure a similar situation did not happen again.

Besides human trafficking in the prostitution trade, Thailand earlier also faced international criticism on human trafficking in the fisheries industry resulting in a warning from the European Union, which threatened to ban Thai seafood exports to its members.

At least six employees of the Victoria Secret parlour have been detained by police, including Boonsub Amornratanasiri, who supervised its operations.

Pol Colonel Krisana Patcharoen, the deputy national police spokesman, said the Metropolitan police unit had set up a committee to investigate the chief of Wang Thong Lang police station as well as four other police officers, because authorities were under pressure to take strong action against human trafficking and prostitution.

Ittipol, the deputy immigration police chief, said the 113 women included some who were under 18 and did not have proper documents, so medical specialists would check the teeth of girls believed to be 18 or younger to verify their age.

Meanwhile, Mana Simma, a senior Interior Ministry official, said authorities were examining which of the 113 women were under 18 while those who are over 18 would be questioned about whether they had been lured or forced into prostitution.

The woman, who was identified only as Paveena, reportedly cooperated with police, leading to more arrests.

“We can’t disclose details yet as we have to investigate further,” Deputy Police Spokesman Pol Colonel Krissana Pattanacharoen said yesterday.

However, a source said police had already traced all suspected wrongdoers connected to the fraud case.

“All suspects are now in detention,” the source said. “Police will talk to banks and plan to hold a press conference on the case on Tuesday [tomorrow].”

A team from the Metropolitan Police Division 1 arrested Paveena late Saturday night, the source said. She reportedly confessed to using the national identity card of private company worker Nicha Kiatthanapaiboon to open five bank accounts.

Nicha, who was detained for three days over a fraud charge before being released on bail, claimed she had applied for a new ID card after her wallet went missing in early October, but the culprit was still able to use the old card to open accounts.

The source said Paveena had told police that a man identified only as Simon had offered to pay her Bt10,000 for opening the five accounts but she said eventually she was only paid Bt4,000.

Nicha yesterday thanked police for acting fast in apprehending culprits.

She also said did not know Paveena.

Asked about the relatively large amount of money deposited in and withdrawn from her bank accounts, Nicha said the accounts were for her family business.

She added that on average, the cash flow volume was about Bt100,000 a month.

Asked about reports that she had talked on the phone with the suspected wrongdoer, Nicha said she suspected that her stolen ID card might have also been used to register SIM cards for cell phone services.

Nicha also admitted that she had lost her national ID card three times – once in 2014 and twice last year.