Dutdao Yarana, 27, was reportedly caught during her attempt to fly from Phuket to Bangkok, where she was then planning to board a flight to Bahrain.
Though she denied any involvement, police believe she had a major role in a gang which lured Thai women to go to work in Bahrain to earn large sums of money. However once they were there, they were forced into prostitution.
A Deputy Commander of the Police’s Anti-Human Trafficking Division (AHTD), Pol Col Prasert Pattanadee, told the press during a police press conference in Bangkok on Sunday (September 16) that the arrest came after the gang’s victims made a phone call to Bahraini police officers asking for help.
The officers then contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and AHTD, which resulted in officers raiding an apartment unit in Manama in Bahrain, where the gang was keeping the victims hostage.
Eleven Thai women were rescued, with one of the victims later claiming that Dutdao and another gang member, Benjawan Promma, 37, held the victims hostage in a room inside an apartment.
Another Thai woman, whose name is only known as “Pat”, forced the victims to work as prostitutes in brothels and entertainment venues in the Middle Eastern country, the victims said.
Pat is said to be married to a Bahraini man. Police are looking for her and Benjawan.
Pol Col Prasert told press that the gang had tempted Thai women using lucrative job offers of working in a massage and spa shop, and promising the women they could quit whenever they wanted. They were then forced into prostitution.
AHTD believe that there are several known Thai-Bahrain human-trafficking gangs currently in operation, and Pol Col Prasert urged Thai women to be careful of any job offers in Bahrain.