Sex slave hits back, shooter's lament, granny on a high

Kathoey demands pound of flesh

The woman debtor.

A woman in Chon Buri who works in PR says she was forced to offer sex services to pay off an underground loan at the hands of a gang led by a kathoey who beat her up when she fled captivity.

“A” said she signed as guarantor for a 30,000 baht loan taken by a friend who fled overseas rather than pay it off. The lender tracked her down and hired a gang led by a kathoey identified as Phuwanai “Kae” Buakong, 21, to keep her in servitude until she paid it off.

Kae, she said, held her at a shop in soi Rungland, South Pattaya, seized her phone, and her ID card. She said if she wanted to regain her freedom she would have to work off the loan by offering sex services.

A told Muang police that she was forced to service clients, mainly foreigners, procured by Kae, at the rate of 2,000-3,000 baht a time until she had repaid the loan.

However, her ordeal did not end there. A said paying off the debt took four days.

After paying back the 30,000 baht, with Kae letting her keep just the tips, Kae demanded she repay in kind a further 5,000 baht as a fee for tracking her down at the lender’s behest.

After paying that off, kathoey Kae said she would have to stay longer still. She said a former lender with whom A and her ex-lover had run up a debt of 90,000 baht had been in touch. She would now have to pay that debt off as well before Kae would let her go.

“I was shocked. I didn’t know where she obtained that information, but suspect she found it on my phone,” A said.

The gang after their arrest.

Repaying that debt took another month. A said she had sex with customers 10 times a day, mainly Americans, Indians, Chinese, and Koreans.

“After I had repaid the debt, I decided to flee, but Kae and her gang caught up with me,” A said.

Kae found out that A was staying at an apartment in Nong Prue of Bang Lamung district and followed her there. They beat up A outside her apartment late on June 11, in scenes captured on phone by locals at the apartment and CCTV on the street.

A’s tale came to light when she posted the clips on social media. She also complained to Muang police, who by early Thursday had tracked down Kae and four gang members.

They were nabbed at a massage shop in south Pattaya and face multiple charges including assault, illegal confinement and human trafficking. They have admitted some, while refusing to commit to the others, police say.

On the night of the fight outside the apartment, a security guard called police, after which A agreed to talk to kathoey Kae.

Kae agreed to return her phone after lengthy talks. However, moments after the police had left, A said, the gang returned, beat her again and tried to force her into their car. She was able to resist, but the incident persuaded her to lay the complaint.

Later she called the lender who had given her friend the loan, who said he had received his 30,000 baht back in full. However, the lender from whom A and her ex-partner had borrowed 90,000 baht said he had not seen a single baht.

In the days following the incident, Kae and her mates, she said, sent her threatening messages, saying they knew senior police and threatened to come after her again.

Laying her complaint, A said she would also like police to secure repayment of the 90,000 baht. The case continues.

Shooter takes innocent life

A labourer in Chon Buri has been nabbed for mistakenly shooting

A labourer in Chon Buri has been nabbed for mistakenly shooting the wife of a co-worker as he pursued their pickup truck following a row.

The shooting followed a dispute with another co-worker, also the pickup’s driver, who escaped injury.

Nong Prue police nabbed Mongkol “Meng Huay Saphan” Bunsomthop, 34, for killing Penprapa Phalapho, 33, one of four passengers in the vehicle.

News reports say Mr Meng’s ex-girlfriend, Taengmo, 18 (no surname provided), brought him in to face charges after he initially fled the scene.

Mongkol Bunsomthop

She said she had stopped seeing Mr Meng but he pleaded with her to return. This upset her father, who opposed their relationship. Mr Meng, in a moment of anger, held a gun to his head. The scene was witnessed by her father’s co-workers, leading to a row three days before the shooting.

One report said they beat him. Mr Meng, upset about the dispute, swore revenge. The man who he intended to shoot in the pickup was among those who stepped into the dispute.

The unintended victim, accompanied by her husband and two others, were travelling in the pickup by the Mab Prachan reservoir in Bang Lamung district when the incident occurred.

Mr Meng, on a motorcycle, drew alongside and fired three times. One bullet entered the rear window of the cab and hit Penprapa in the back, with the bullet exiting through her neck.

The driver took her on a mercy dash to hospital but when she lost consciousness, pulled over and called rescue workers. The victim died later from her injuries.

Natthapong Kuanrabsuan, 18, who was sitting in the back, jumped out when the suspect started shooting, narrowly escaping injury.

Thongchai Butthong, 42, the victim’s husband, was sitting alongside the driver.

Mr Meng, who was known to him, lived in a village nearby and was seeing the daughter of a friend at work. Mr Thongchai said he had also helped defuse the dispute with Mr Meng that day.

Arrested by police, Mr Meng admitted the shooting, but said he merely meant to threaten the occupants, not kill anyone.

The workers, who operate a crane putting in foundation piles, were heading to their camp in nearby soi Huay Saphan, Pong sub-district, when Mr Meng attacked. Police charged Mr Meng with premeditated murder and firearms offences.

Granny’s drug disguise unravels

Illicit drugs hidden in woollen balls.

Grandmas and balls of knitting wool may go together, but not when the wool is concealing illicit drugs.

Mae Chan police in Chiang Rai last week nabbed Grandma Hue, also known as Napue, from the Lahu hill tribe, after finding her with 990 speed pills and 500 grammes of raw opium secreted in knitting wool.

Police had set up a roadblock after hearing a large amount of drugs would be brought across the border.

This followed a drugs haul on June 21 when Mae Chan police, joined by their provincial counterparts, seized from a local transport company 10 boxes of avocados which contained 1.5 million ya ba pills inside. 

The boxes were consigned to a company in Pa Sang sub-district and were heading to customers in Nonthaburi.

Grandma Hue.

Local police, who set up a roadblock to look for more, flagged over a pickup packed with passengers and fitted with a cattle pen at the back.

The driver said he was hired to take passengers from Mae Fah Luang district to Yala province. Grandma Hue, also among the passengers, had asked to be dropped off in Muang district of Chiang Rai.

Police noticed Grandma Hue was behaving oddly, as if she had been taking drugs, so asked to search her tote bag. They found the drugs molded into six balls and wrapped tightly in cotton yarn, the sort used in knitting.

Police say the disguise was intended to hoodwink them, as most people would think nothing amiss if they saw a grandma with balls of knitting wool.

However, the granny’s own odd behaviour, which police recognised, gave her away. A urine test found morphine inside her system, police said.

Grandma Hue was happy to admit shipping the drugs, as she said she had no dependents and was getting on in years so would be dead soon anyway.

In the earlier bust, when police raided a transport company and found 1.5 million ya ba pills hidden in boxes of avocado, the culprits left nothing to chance.

Officers say each box contained a slab of drugs stamped with the “Liverpool” brand, along with initials LFC, or 150,000 pills in each box of fruit. Handily, each box also carried the name of the sender, the intended recipient, and the phone number of the recipient, in Bang Yai district, Nonthaburi.

Thanks to the details provided, police nabbed the two people who delivered the fruit to the company, and were looking for the rest.