A RAID ON a massage parlour in Rama 9 yesterday is expected to have a major impact on human trafficking movements in Thailand as most of the 100 workers found on the premises were young, illegal migrants from neighbouring countries who may have been forced to work in the sex trade.

The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) as well as Army and police officers raided the massage parlour in one of Bangkok’s well-known entertainment districts following allegations of human trafficking and the prostitution of girls under 18 years old.

DSI deputy chief Pol Colonel Songsak Raksaksakul led DSI officers, soldiers and administrative officials in the raid on Victoria’s: The Secret Forever massage parlour, with an arrest warrant for a man identified as “Kob”.

Following a tip-off from human trafficking buster Nvader, the operation was backed by a warrant to search the premises for Kob, who reportedly worked there as an “enticer”, and to gather related evidence.

Kob, who is also known as Boonsab Amornrattanasiri, 55, was arrested during the raid for his role in providing sex at the parlour. He could be charged with human trafficking as many of the workers were relatively young and possibly deceived or forced from foreign countries to work as prostitutes.

The parlour was shut down immediately after the raid and police sought arrest warrants for another seven people.

The case stemmed from a previous complaint, where a Myanmar girl under 18 had been lured into prostitution at the age of 12.

DSI officers took up the investigation last year as it reportedly linked criminals in Thailand, Myanmar and Malaysia who preyed on girls under 18.

It was alleged that the gang had recruited underage virgin girls from outside of Thailand to provide sex services. The girls were then sent to perform sex work at the Bangkok massage parlour, a form of human trafficking.

The investigation identified seven suspects who are now covered by court-ordered arrest warrants, including Kob.

As many as 97 young female workers were found at the parlour during the raid.

Their nationalities including Thai, Myanmar and Laos, and many of them carried no identity card.

Human trafficking has been a serious problem in the kingdom for years. While the government said it has worked hard to reduce the problem, Thailand was graded by the US Department of State as Tier2 on a watch list last year as it failed to fully meet minimum standards for the elimination of human trafficking.

The authority said on Thursday that it expected the US would upgrade Thailand’s status in the Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report this year as concerned agencies have worked effectively to reduce the problem.

The cabinet would endorse the latest report of work done by the government next week before forwarding it to Washington by the end of this month to clarify Thai accounts.

The US would take months to evaluate the report before the release of the TIP report by the middle of this year.

The report to the US would mention law enforcement and prosecution over the traffickers and masterminds as well as prevention of trafficking.

The rescue and rehabilitation of trafficked persons are also included in the measures stepped up by the authorities over the past year, according to Social Development and Human Security Minister General Anantaporn Kanjanarat.

The boy’s father and younger sister are still missing.

Thai Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Bussadee Santipitak yesterday said: “The Consulate Office [in Los Angeles] checked the list of 17 victims released by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office and found a name that could possibly be that of a Thai. The name was then compared with our documents and it was confirmed that he is a Thai,” she said.

Victim Peerawat Sutthithepn, 6, was born in Khon Kaen province, Bussadee said.

The Consular Office is trying to contact his relatives and friends to offer assistance. Information from the victim’s relatives in Thailand suggest Peerawat’s mother is safe but his father and his three-year-old sister are still missing, she said.

Agence France Presse reported that authorities in California were on Thursday still searching for eight missing people. It is not yet clear whether the number included Peerawat’s father and sister.

Heavy rain on Tuesday, which followed 10 months of drought, sent sticky mud and debris flowing from the hills into Montecito and other towns in Santa Barbara County, northwest of Los Angeles.

“It was a scary night,” said local resident Jane Barret. One of her doctors, the leader of her son’s scout group |and an old neighbour are among the dead.

She said “it will take a lot of time” to get over the natural disasters that have struck the area over the past two months.

Terrifying wildfires forced people to evacuate in December – with the mudslides striking just two weeks later.

While many Australian same-sex couples chose to celebrate New Year’s 2018 by getting married, Jarrukit Somjich,37, from Chiang Rai and Kiticha Srijad, 49, from Pathum Thani wed right after the bill passed in December last year.

“We planned a long time ago to get married and had sent invitations to friends and family to come and help celebrate a traditional Thai wedding theme, and we did it on December 17, 2017,” said Jarrukit, who has lived in Brisbane for eight years and owns a massage shop.

“We didn’t really know if the bill was going to pass or not,” he explained.

“I thank all the Australian people who have fought [for] and have been very active pushing for this bill to pass. It has been hard-fought and I thank Australia for the opportunity to equalise marriage. Love is love and it should be equal to all.”

When asked what the bill means to the couple, Kiticha, who has lived in Brisbane for 18 years and works at a Thai restaurant, said that it is a good to see that Australian society is very open, accepting and very multicultural. The bill is another important change to confirm how Australia believes in its people’s values, he said.

“The bill is an important change to not only let a husband love his husband but a wife to love her wife and they can share their lives till death do them part,” said Kiticha. “It shows we have come a long way and we couldn’t be happier.”

Jarrukit and Kiticha were the first same-sex couple to be married at Queensland’s Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages (RBDM) since the passing of the Marriage Equality law last month.

Acting Premier of Queensland Jackie Trad congratulated the pair on their special day – one that would be etched in Queensland’s history. “This is a fantastic and historic day, not only for this couple, but for Queensland,” Trad said.

Prachin admitted there was a mistake in taking earlier action against Nicha who was detained by police for three days, so the Justice Ministry will consider providing compensation to the victim as well as legal help to prove her innocence.

The ministry would also cover Nicha’s legal expenses as she showed up yesterday at the Tak provincial court to fight the case while the Anti-Money Laundering Office urged banks to carefully check ID cards used in opening bank accounts or they could face a hefty fine.

Nicha told investigators she was not the person captured in CCTV footage provided by banks’ surveillance system and so her stolen ID card should not have been considered valid for opening the accounts.

The accounts were used by the illegal call centre as part of a scam that lured innocent people to transfer money for bogus claims.

DOUBTS ARE growing as to whether the soldier identified as the prime suspect in a recent fatal checkpoint shooting is the real culprit.

Private Wichai Jampa was handed over to the Provincial Police Region 5 headquarters yesterday afternoon.

But lawyer Songkran Achariyasap – who also heads a group protecting the nation, religions and monarchy – said photos of officials at the checkpoint did not show Wichai holding the type of gun used in the death of Sornchai Sathitrakdamrong on the night of January 2.

“His signature does not even appear on the list of persons signing in to man the checkpoint that night,” Songkran said.

Provincial Police Region 5 chief Pol Lt-General Poonsap Prasertsak, has so far insisted that Wichai must have been the real culprit because he confessed to the crime.

“Wichai said he thought Sornchai intentionally refused to stop for a search and without thinking things through, just opened fire and his bullet killed Sornchai,” Poonsap said.

Sornchai’s girlfriend, who was travelling with him that night, said they did not see any official at the checkpoint. The incident occurred during New Year holidays in Chiang Rai province. Wichai is now charged with murder for allegedly shooting Sornchai.

He was the second suspect to have been charged in connection with Sornchai’s death.

On January 5, assistant village head Wutthichai Injai was arrested for the shooting. Police said witnesses saw Wutthichai pull out the gun that night. Wutthichai insisted he fired into the sky.

Sornchai’s family have called for a thorough and transparent investigation.

On Thursday, test results showed the fatal bullet was fired from an M16 assault rifle. Wutthichai’s gun is a 9mm. “Even if Wutthichai shot into the sky, he still violated laws. It’s illegal to fire in public places like that,” Poonsap said.

Songkran yesterday submitted photos and documents that could be used as evidence in the case to Deputy National Police Commissioner Pol General Srivara Ransibrahmanakul to ensure that there will be no scapegoat in the case.

“In the photo are apparently also some senior military officers,” Songkran said.

Srivara said he would assign the Crime Suppression Division to join the investigation into the death.

“We will clear lingering doubts. We will go into details [about] who were at the checkpoint that night and how many guns were at the scene,” he said.

“Of 13.82 million children [below 18 years of age], at least 5 million are underprivileged,” Boonruang said.

He said 80 per cent of underprivileged children were financially poor and about six per cent were from multi-ethnic groups and without rights to state-provided healthcare services.

Agencies that extended medical services to these children would have to foot the bill themselves, he pointed out. The not-too flattering figures were released a day ahead of National Children’s Day, which will be celebrated across the country today. Every year, Thailand celebrates Children’s Day on the second Saturday of January.

Boonruang also disclosed that up to 220,842 children in Thailand had intellectual disabilities or autism.

He added that just 5.59 per cent of the multi-ethnic children and those who were intellectually challenged could access healthcare services.

“Of them, just 25.33 per cent have had access to education,” he said.

Boonruang said their lack of opportunities also hurt the country, depriving it of otherwise quality human resources.

He said his department had implemented a project to develop a healthcare system for intellectually challenged children between 2013 and 2015. During the period, the project found that about 91.4 per cent of intellectually challenged students had oral-health problems in 2014. “In 2015, the percentage of those having oral-health problems dropped sharply to 90.7,” he said.

Rajanukul Institute director Amporn Benjaponpitak said it was necessary to develop children because they were the foundation of the country. “We need to do more to address children’s problems,” she said. She also lamented that inequalities still prevailed in children’s care.

“So, it’s best to start promoting equality today,” Amporn said.

Boonruang said that this year his agency would take an integrated approach in ensuring that children with intellectual disabilities gain access to healthcare support.

Chaiyuth Kamkun, deputy Customs department director-general, said that the confiscation was the results of close monitoring of tusk smuggling rings that have used Thailand as a transit point.

Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Chaiyuth said that analysing intelligence information revealed that the trafficking rings normally smuggled the tusks from African countries and disguised the ivory as general goods.

The tusks displayed at the press conference were allegedly brought into Thailand by Ethiopian Airlines flight ET618 from Lagos in Nigeria to Bangkok’s Survarnabhumi airport.

The authorities, including the airport department and police, became suspicious of the items contained in large boxes. Scanning the boxes, they found the tusks.

No one turned up to claim the tusks, so they were confiscated.

Chakthip also urged officers to beef up security in the deep South.

Chakthip, along with his assistant Pol Lt-General Chaiwat Ketwarachai, went to the Police Operations Centre in Muang Yala to follow up on progress in three cases – the bus torching, a roadside bomb wounding 10 paramilitary rangers in Pattani’s Nong Chik district on the morning of January 10 and the murder of three family members at their home on the night of January 10 in Pattani’s Thung Yang Daeng district.

After hearing reports, Chakthip said the three cases had much progressed.

Chakthip also joined for 30 minutes the ongoing interrogation of the two unnamed suspects who had made confessions in the bus burning case.

He later told reporters that the suspects gave useful information to the investigation, of which his deputy Pol General Srivara Ransibrahmanakul would be in charge. He said some 7-8 others who were apprehended during a search of 26 locations earlier this month also gave useful information.

The 27-year-old Saipan is alleged to have live-streamed a shot of her 24-year-old boyfriend’s penis on her Instagram account earlier this month, the shot of which then went viral, prompting her to delete the Instagram story and issue an apology for the “accident”.

Responding to a summons Saipan and Nuttawuth met with officers at the Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD) in Bangkok as part of their investigation into whether the actress had violated the law by uploading pornographic images onto a computer system accessible to the public.

Police have said if the investigation deemed the actress’s action as violating the law, they would file a charge against her. Violating the law carries a punishment of up to three years in jail and/or a Bt60,000 in fine.

 The ban, which comes into force in November, follows a clean-up of nearly 140,000 cigarette butts from a 2.5 kilometre (1.5 mile) stretch of the famed Patong beach in Phuket island province.

Its introduction coincides with Thailand’s peak tourist season and will be enforced in visitor hotspots including Krabi, Koh Samui, Pattaya, Phuket and Phang Nga.

“These beaches are among the most beautiful in Southeast Asia, and the aim is to keep them that way,” Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Governor Yuthasak Supasorn said in a statement on Monday.

Smokers will have to use designated areas with proper waste disposal for cigarette butts, he added.

Those caught lighting up on the beach could face jail or a 100,000 baht ($3,000) fine, according to TAT.

The edict is the latest effort to rein in Thailand’s free-wheeling tourism industry.

The sector is a crucial pillar of Thailand’s economy, catering to more than 30 million travellers per year.

But the huge numbers of arrivals have also threatened to spoil some of the kingdom’s idyllic beaches, with litter and unchecked development damaging local ecosystems.

Thailand is also trying to crack down on lax safety standards that riddle the tourism industry, after waves of complaints that visitors are overcharged or not adequately protected on boats and jet-skis.