The Anti-Trafficking Police planned a sting operation and arrested the owner of a karaoke bar in Phang Nga Province for illicitly trafficking minors, luring a 15-year-old friend of her daughter into prostitution.
On 5 July 2026, Pol. Maj. Gen. Witthaya Sriprasertpap, Commander of the Anti-Trafficking Police Division, ordered Pol. Col. Alongkot Kotkaew, Superintendent of Division 5, Pol. Lt. Col. Natthaphon Daowwiang, and Pol. Capt. Jakphat Klin-on to lead the operation arresting Ms. Hathaikan, also known as Fresh, aged 35.
She was charged with "human trafficking for sexual exploitation of a minor, procuring a person under 18 for prostitution, owning a prostitution business involving minors under 18, procuring or enticing minors under 18 for prostitution, facilitating or protecting prostitution, fraudulently receiving, selling, procuring, enticing, or transporting minors under 18, abducting minors for profit or lascivious purposes, and inducing or consenting to improper conduct by a minor." Evidence seized included 2,500 baht in cash and one mobile phone at the karaoke bar in Lam Kaen Subdistrict, Thai Muang District, Phang Nga.
The Anti-Trafficking Police Division 5, together with Phang Nga Provincial Social Development Office, The Exodus Road Thailand, and Our Rescue Thailand, learned that the karaoke bar had been operating illicitly for over five years under Ms. Hathaikan's ownership. She encouraged clients to engage minors from the bar in sexual activities at nearby hotels. They planned and executed a sting operation leading to her arrest with the seized evidence. Additionally, they rescued one 15-year-old human trafficking victim, given the pseudonym 'Mew'.
Officers then conducted a search of the karaoke bar, finding four employees, including Ms. Hathaikan's biological daughter, aged 16. The other three employees were over 18. All were taken to the Phang Nga Child and Family Home for questioning.
'Mew' stated that she was friends with the owner's daughter and was invited from Chiang Mai to visit and stay at the bar for about 20 days. Then Ms. Hathaikan persuaded her to work, accepting sexual service jobs priced between 1,500 and 2,500 baht, with a commission cut of 300 to 500 baht per job. She had already completed nine such jobs.
In interrogation, Ms. Hathaikan confessed to all charges. She was handed over to investigators at Division 5 of the Anti-Trafficking Police for legal proceedings. Authorities are continuing to investigate other involved individuals and to assist victims of sexual exploitation by placing them under legal protection.