Thai woman initially suspected of human trafficking was apparently victim herself

Police say woman had to pay “tax” to her Finnish husband

print this

Police in Lahti believe that a local man earned EUR 350,000 between 2009 and 2011 by engaging in aggravated procurement and human trafficking.
      According to a police investigation which has now concluded, the worst to suffer was the man’s Thai wife, who was incarcerated for a month, suspected of being an active participant in the criminal enterprise herself.
      Now police say that she was a victim of human trafficking and numerous beatings.
     
The company, which ran 11 massage parlours and two apartments, was in the wife’s name, but police say that this was done for reasons of deception.
      The woman cannot read or write Finnish, which makes it virtually impossible for her to operate in the Finnish corporate bureaucracy, says Ville Hahl of the Päijät-Häme police.
      Police say that she was also forced to pay a “tax” to her husband.
     
The workers at the massage parlours had such a degree of self-determination that police no longer consider them victims of human trafficking.
      The massage income appears to have gone directly to the Finnish man, while the women were allowed to keep what they eaerned from the sale of sex services.
      A Finnish man faces charges of aiding and abetting aggravated procurement. Police say that he supplied the main perpetrator with foreign prostitutes.
     


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Owners of Thai massage service in Lahti suspected of human trafficking (25.11.2011)
  Police suspect some Helsinki Thai massage parlours of procurement (10.10.2010)

Helsingin Sanomat