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Woman faces jail for trafficking prostitutes from Thailand
Justin Davenport, Crime Correspondent23.06.09
A woman who controlled a crime network trafficking women into London to work as prostitutes was facing years in jail today.
Atchara Nualpenyai, 30, a Thai national, ran two brothels in east London which she supplied with women she trafficked from Thailand.
She pleaded guilty to controlling prostitution and trafficking at Croydon Crown Court yesterday.
Scotland Yard launched an investigation into the vice racket after a woman who was forced to work in one of her brothels escaped and went to police.
The woman, in her 20s, told how she was trafficked from Thailand at the end of 2005 and forced to work as a prostitute to pay off a “debt bondage” of £27,000.
She flew over to Britain from Thailand to give evidence in the case this week.
Nualpenyai operated brothels at her address in Gants Hill and at another site in Wanstead High Street. They were advertised in local papers and girls offered services charging between £30 for 10 minutes to £100 for an hour.
Police searches at her flat uncovered £2,000 in cash, two passports for two young Thai women and 20 Ecstasy tablets.
During interviews with Vice Squad officers, Nualpenyai admitted paying criminal associates in Thailand about £11,000 for each of the three women who were rescued by police at the brothels.
Detective Inspector Kevin Hyland from the Clubs and Vice Unit said: “Nualpenyai was determined to make money from exploiting vulnerable women, and cared nothing about the misery her actions will guarantee for them.
“Unfortunately cases such as this demonstrate that criminals will normally start by targeting women in their home countries, so it is vitally important we have a strong relationship with partners abroad."
He said women were often shared out between brothels and police had information that the three women found in London had also been circulated to vice dens in Bristol and Soho.
Nualpenyai is due to be sentenced next month.
Reader views (4)
Why have all the people policing our broders properly left? It seems every time I am at Heathrow everyone has the British passport.
- Steveo, London NW1
This is good news. We have to realise that the Thais are far more complicit in trafficking and that many of the women come here voluntarily to earn a lot of money. The £20,000 is seemed reasonable for a fake passport, being smuggled through the airport, being housed, having a set of photos taken etc. The women quickly pay off their debt and return home with huge amounts of cash which is transferred by Western Union to their Thai accounts. I know of a Thai woman who paid airport officials THIS SIDE and on the Thai side, just £700 to be safely transported home to Thailand after staying here just 2-3 years and earning several hundred thousand pounds. There is a hard drugs trade connected to this business and it constitutes a huge part of the black market economy. People are mistaken to perceive that these women are innocent victims forced to come here - some are - but may want to, they come to 'work' and return home rich. It is organised by Thai women and airport workers, using fake passports.
- Real, London
Lock her and others like her up in Thai style conditions for Thai length sentences. Human traffickers are scum and have no idea the damage they cause.
- S-M Hearmon, London, UK
".. so it is vitally important we have a strong relationship with partners abroad."
Wrong, it vitally important to have strong immigration controls. Not going to happen under Labour of course.
- Frank, Home Counties, England.
