Thai girls working at spas in Amritsar being lured into flesh trade

PK Jaiswar

Amritsar, October 27

Girls from Thailand are allegedly being lured, duped and pushed into flesh trade by traffickers under the garb of spa and massage parlours that have mushroomed in the city, if recent incidents are anything to go by.

In the past one week, the police have rescued seven girls from Thailand while two girls were rescued in December last year.

Centres have come up in posh localities

In the recent past, spa centres have mushroomed in posh localities besides other parts of the city, including the Sultanwind road and the Chheharta area. These centres hire girls from Thailand and states in the Northeast. In the absence of any checks, it has taken the shape of an organised racket.

Earlier too, similar cases were reported in the city. In May this year, around five Thai girls were deported after they were rescued from a spa centre on the Loharaka road.

During a preliminary probe, the police found that in majority of cases, they were lured to work at the spa centre and later pushed into immoral trafficking by the spa owners after taking their passports.

In the recent incident, the CIA staff-3 rescued four girls, including three from Thailand, from a hotel where they were allegedly pushed into prostitution. Barinderjit Singh, CIA in-charge, carried out the raid following a tip-off. The racket was being run on the fifth floor of the hotel. The hotel did not have a spa centre or massage parlour.

“Investigations have revealed that the girls were invited to work at the spa centre, but later lured into flesh trade,” said Barinderjit Singh. He said the police had arrested three persons in the case while their fourth accomplice managed to slip away. They were booked for immoral trafficking.

Similarly, on October 21, the Ranjit Avenue police arrested 17 persons, including four Thailand nationals, from a spa centre operating in the D-block of the posh locality. The police also booked the Thai nationals under Foreigners Act in the case.

Varinder Singh Khosa, Assistant Commissioner of Police (North), said in this particular case, the Thai girls were booked as they arrived here on visitors’ visa and later indulged in the sex racket. They were arrested and sent to jail.

In December last year, two Thai girls were rescued from a spa centre in Ranjit Avenue area. They had e-visas, but even then they were employed in the spa. They were later deported to their native country. Similarly, in January 2020, eight Thai girls were rescued while in July 2020, two women from Uzbekistan were held in a sex racket being run from a spa centre on the Mall road.

In the recent past, spa centres have mushroomed in posh localities besides other parts of the city, including the Sultanwind road and the Chheharta area. These centres were hiring girls from Thailand and states in the Northeast. In the absence of any checks, it has taken the shape of an organised racket.