Welcome to Thailandblog.nl
With 275.000 visits per month, Thailandblog is the largest Thailand community in the Netherlands and Belgium.
Sign up for our free e-mail newsletter and stay informed!
Newsletter
Language setting
Rate Thai Baht
Sponsor
Latest comments
- RonnyLatYa: Yes, I say that Kanchanaburi is just an example and that you can change that. You can also do this on the web page itself and then see
- william-korat: In the dry period the line is bottom of Bangkok and lower and east of that to just above Khao Yai National Park usually we
- Eric Kuypers: If you change the command line, such as https://www.iqair.com/thailand/nong-khai, you will get a different city or region. But you
- Cornelis: Well, GeertP, I am absolutely not a 'Brussels sprouts supporter' or THE Red Brand addict, but that does not mean that I don't like the Thai cuisine.
- Rudolf: It depends on what you are looking for in Thailand, but to be honest you don't have much choice in my opinion. The big cities are falling apart
- RonnyLatYa: Also take a look at this. https://www.iqair.com/thailand/kanchanaburi Also scroll down a bit and they will also give you some explanation
- Peter (editor): I also enjoy the Thai food and yes, the price is very attractive. But it's just a fact that Thai farmers are unbelievable
- Jacks: It is best to go in the period November to February. Someone with asthma should absolutely not come here from March to May
- GeertP: Dear Ronald, I completely agree with your story, I also enjoy Thai cuisine every day and even after 45 years of Thai
- Eric Kuypers: Wilma, bad air is not in all of Thailand. Thailand is more than 12x the Netherlands! These are the big cities (traffic) and some
- Pjotter: kopi luwak regularly bought and drunk in the Netherlands. Usually only available some time before Christmas. You get the best coffee taste
- Jack S: Oh dear…. Except for the fact that I also start the day with a coffee, everything is different for me... my coffee is just a
- hans: Tastes differ, but this just looks beautiful.
- Lenaerts: Dear, I went to immigration yesterday to apply for a retirement visa, very friendly people and they helped quickly
- Aad: I buy my coffee at Lotus. Add a teaspoon of that coffee to warm water and enjoy
Sponsor
Bangkok again
Menu
Arrivals Bangkok Airport
DOSSIERS
Learning objectives and topics
- Background
- Activities
- Advertorial
- Agenda
- Tax question
- Belgium question
- Sights
- Bizarre
- Buddhism
- Book reviews
- Column
- Corona crisis
- The Culture
- Diary
- Dating
- The week of
- Dossier
- To dive
- Economy
- A day in the life of…..
- Islands
- Food and drink
- Events and festivals
- Balloon Festival
- Bo Sang Umbrella Festival
- Buffalo races
- Chiang Mai Flower Festival
- Chinese New Year
- Full Moon Party
- Christmas
- Lotus Festival – Rub Bua
- Loy Krathong
- Naga Fireball Festival
- New Years Eve celebration
- Phi ta khon
- Phuket Vegetarian Festival
- Rocket festival – Bun Bang Fai
- Songkran – Thai New Year
- Fireworks Festival Pattaya
- Expats and retirees
- state pension
- Car insurance
- Banking
- Tax in the Netherlands
- Thailand tax
- Belgian Embassy
- Belgian tax authorities
- Proof of life
- DigiD
- emigrate
- To rent a house
- Buy a house
- In memoriam
- Income statement
- King's day
- Cost of living
- Dutch embassy
- Dutch government
- Dutch Association
- News
- Passing away
- Passport
- Retirement
- Drivers license
- Distributions
- Elections
- Insurance in general
- Visa
- work
- Hospital
- Health insurance
- Flora and fauna
- Photo of the week
- Gadgets
- Money and finance
- History
- Health
- Charities
- Hotels
- Looking at houses
- Isaan
- Khan Peter
- Koh Mook
- King Bhumibol
- Living in Thailand
- Reader Submission
- Reader call
- Reader tips
- Reader question
- Society
- marketplace
- Medical tourism
- Environment
- Nightlife
- News from the Netherlands and Belgium
- News from Thailand
- Entrepreneurs and companies
- Education
- Research
- Discover Thailand
- Opinions
- Remarkable
- Calls
- Floods 2011
- Floods 2012
- Floods 2013
- Floods 2014
- Winter prices
- Politics
- Poll
- Travel stories
- Travel
- Organizations
- Shopping
- Social media
- Spa & wellness
- Sport
- Cities
- Position of the week
- The beach
- Language
- For sale
- TEV procedure
- Thailand in general
- Thailand with children
- thai tips
- Thai massage
- Tourism
- Going out
- Currency – Thai Baht
- From the editors
- Real estate law; and
- Traffic and transport
- Visa Short Stay
- Long stay visa
- Visa question
- Flight tickets
- Question of the week
- Weather and climate
Sponsor
Disclaimer translations
Thailandblog uses machine translations in multiple languages. Use of translated information is at your own risk. We are not responsible for errors in translations.
Read our full here disclaimer.
Royalty
© Copyright Thailandblog 2024. All rights reserved. Unless stated otherwise, all rights to information (text, image, sound, video, etc.) that you find on this site rest with Thailandblog.nl and its authors (bloggers).
Whole or partial takeover, placement on other sites, reproduction in any other way and/or commercial use of this information is not permitted, unless express written permission has been granted by Thailandblog.
Linking and referring to the pages on this website is permitted.
Home » News from the Netherlands and Belgium » German police round up large Thai human trafficking gang
German police round up large Thai human trafficking gang
Posted in News from the Netherlands and Belgium
Tags: Germany, Human trafficking, Prostitution
It is the largest ever police operation against organized crime in the Federal Republic. More than 1.500 police have been deployed to bust a Thai human trafficking gang, Bild writes.
At six o'clock this morning, 62 brothels and homes were raided, including in Siegen, Dortmund, Gelsenkirchen and Düsseldorf. Special police commandos of the GSG 9 were deployed for this. It was preceded by a year of intensive research.
A 59-year-old Thai woman is seen as a gang leader and prime suspect. The gang consists of 15 to 20 suspects who are said to be extremely brutal.
The Thai women were lured to Germany under false pretenses. There they were forced to work in prostitution without being paid. The investigators of the federal police assume that the people smugglers have earned several million euros.
Source: Image
They should punish those smugglers severely.
Sad to read that a certain category of people is still active in human trafficking/exploitation. I have been retired for a few years now, but during my police career I have been able to handle the necessary matters in this area. Serious crime that also takes place in the Netherlands. Just like so many other countries of course. It is still booming business to use and abuse people as in the sex industry. I am aware of the mentality of these criminals and that they deserve a severe punishment is beyond dispute. The problem is always that there is no willingness to report on the part of the victims in question. Too afraid of the consequences she rammed in at length. Besides the fact that these kinds of people also live on our globe and are difficult to eradicate, the use of these ladies is of course also a major concern that should not be underestimated. If these ladies and sometimes gentlemen are not used, then nothing is earned and this is (almost) no longer present. This will continue as long as there is supply and demand. As far as I am concerned, the users are therefore also partly to blame for perpetuating this type of crime.
There will be those who say it's their own fault, big bump, because they are lured in with promises and talk and you should know better, but that is too short-sighted as far as I'm concerned. The fact that there is too little attention for this type of crime in poor countries also makes you think. Who is really involved with this fellow human being. Anyway, for the enthusiast, there are plenty of books and films about this type of crime. But yes, the user group does not read this because you can guess why.
Dear Jacques, you assume that no one is really involved with this fellow human being (prostitute). However, I think that countless Thailanders are concerned about their fate. Many of them have met their Thai girlfriend/wife in the prostitution circuit, although this will often be denied, and have subsequently become so involved that they transfer a monthly financial contribution to Thailand. Perhaps also self-interest, no one wants to share his sweetheart with another, but they still ensure that entire families, especially in the Isaan, have a better life. In fact, prostitution has existed since the dawn of humanity, your wish to banish it from the world is not realistic. However, the abuses associated with prostitution must be combated as much as possible. That is why it is good to read that this criminal gang of human traffickers has been arrested by the German police and with you, and most likely almost all readers of Thailand Blog, I hope that the perpetrators are stripped bare financially and given a hefty prison sentence. It would be nice if their millions in profits were shared among their victims, but unfortunately I don't see that happening.
Dear Leo, thank you for your shared opinion. I am not against complete abolition of prostitution. Nor do I look down on the sex workers. I understand the people who do enter into a relationship with a prostitute. Love knows no bounds. I do think that it can all happen much less with this, because there is a lot wrong in this industry. I am also against the glorification of this phenomenon. You can relate to each other in many ways and many are desirable and with integrity. In Amsterdam, research has already been carried out into sex workers in the past and the vast majority did not do this work out of love for the profession. These people need to be protected against themselves, because they are not doing well. See it happen in Germany, but also in the Netherlands where I and my group also dealt with the necessary criminals at the time. This is of course not only an issue in the Netherlands or Germany, but is a global problem for which there is far too little understanding and attention. If I assume with you that no one is involved then this is a flaw in my piece, it is not as you point out. Fortunately, there are people involved, because otherwise we can stop the earthly happening, because then the quality of life and safety will be completely compromised. I do think that too few people take a good look at themselves and their behavior and are engaged in this in a positive way. I know we don't all have the same values and standards. We have legislation to help, but that too is not appreciated by many. Integrity is a mole in which values are formed, but which is interpreted by everyone according to needs and wishes and so on. If you are hungry for sex or money, you will see that the behavior adapts to this. Then all rules are dismissed and denied and often also tried to be positive.
If we don't eat chicken or pork (animal welfare) don't wear good cheap clothes (exploitation) Don't produce weapons (war) Don't drive a car (environment) ETC ETC the world would look different. But this isn't how the world works, unfortunately. You cannot hold the user responsible for all the misery in the world. I think it's the pickpockets who cause the greatest misery Gr Wimnet
Certainly sad that a category of people can shamelessly exploit their fellow man so hard. Some people must have a black heart. But how does it manage to allow human trafficking to continue? In Thailand you can also find posters and such that warn against human trafficking (forced prostitution, child labor and other forms of exploitation reminiscent of slavery).
I still understand that there are ladies (and gentlemen) among the victims who escape poverty out of sheer desperation, or who don't think 'this is too good to be true' when they hear beautiful stories of wealth. But how do these smugglers manage to do it? To come to Europe from Thailand, there are really only 2 flavors (okay 3 if you count asylum as a political refugee): family reunification/training with a European partner/family. It is difficult for a human smuggler to intervene (or he must also be part of the conspiracy, a lok-farang alla loverboy?).
Remaining taste two: labor migration, but that is only possible if the employer can demonstrate that the vacancy cannot be filled within the member state and Europe and that a specialist (such as a Thai cook, etc.) must therefore be flown in. Do those human traffickers sometimes make the ladies/gentlemen believe that they can work in the catering industry and take away their passports once they arrive and lock them up in an illegal brothel?
Oh and 3rd option: short-stay visa as a tourist and as a victim, cobble together a story with the human trafficker that the foreigner is coming on holiday (but actually comes to work illegally, with the promise of easy/a lot of money, but that turns out differently after arrival) . But embassies are attentive to that, your story, profile, destination, reasons for returning and so on must be correct. So lying together a solid story with evidence is not easy. And if a human smuggler acts as a guarantor for several people and they end up in overstay, the human trafficker can also shake things up after a few devious requests. So I can't analyze large numbers from that either.
Could it not be that the “merchandise” comes to Europe with a tourist visa and then ends up illegally?
After my earlier response, I saw on ThaiVisa that the victims have come on a tourist visa (formally: Schengen visa type C, with the purpose of tourism). But the embassies are very aware of overstay, illegal work, human trafficking and other practices that make people and civil servants miserable. So that is not arranged for a while, the right papers and story around it. I also understand from that source that the main suspect was behind this and arranged false papers etc (and the abused ladies and gentlemen built up a 'debt' of tens of thousands of euros). Plus that if you do manage to put something like this together, it will also be a challenge for the criminals to keep it up in the longer term, time and time again ladies with similar papers, etc. will also light up the authorities to burn.
Dear Rob,
Hordes of Chinese tourists come to the Netherlands (Europe) every year. Why shouldn't that be possible with Thai tourists?
Dear Frans, yes, many Chinese people are coming to the Netherlands (about 55 visas were issued by the Netherlands to Chinese people in 2016), and yes, there are also many Thai people (over 10). I suspect that the Chinese are largely group travelers who come here in an organized manner. Whether the Thai are also good for group travel or whether tourists mainly come as tourists in a family context, I don't know.
As a human trafficker, setting up a fake group trip with a fake travel agency etc. seems like a hell of a job to me and after 1 group trip you can close the fake agency because if the travelers don't return you can forget it a second time if you come in with a stack of passports. So it seems more plausible to me that the Thai victims applied for a tourist visa alone or with maybe 2-2 people (so-called friends club?). Then there is still a lot of work involved to form a fake profile (fake job, fake contract, a contact person at that fake company who goes along with the story when the Ministry of Foreign Affairs contacts the employer for verification, fake bank book with fake salary deposit and other transactions and so forth) . But on such an individual level it seems easier to commit fraud than on a group trip level. But my reasoning is purely on feeling.
See: the downloadable PDF in my blog from last year https://www.thailandblog.nl/visum-kort-verblijf/afgifte-schengenvisums-thailand-loep-2016/
@redactie: I see that the pictures no longer work there. Fortunately, the PDF attachment is still there.
Dear Rob, I am a fan of your submitted pieces and you contribute a high degree of quality to your knowledge and field. You ask a number of questions that are important and where things still regularly go wrong and people apparently still enter the EU in a "legal" way. You will not be unfamiliar with the phenomenon of passport forgers. In Thailand there are various possibilities to obtain passports and also good documents, but with different personal details. Look-a-likes also occur. These documents can withstand the test of authenticity, because they come from official authorities. This can be observed in many countries and Nigeria, for example, is a striking example of this. There you and I can buy a “legal” passport for some money. In addition, Bangkok is known for the many passport forgers. This was also the case in my time and often it is Pakistani or other foreign people, in close cooperation with the Thai, who are involved. In addition, there are many stories that support the visa option. The cunning tricks that are used are often indistinguishable from the real thing and are therefore not recognized by those who make the decision whether or not to default. Once in the EU, the people in question are used by the perpetrator group. It's big money, so plenty of people who know how to find their employment here. The persons are placed in sex houses and brothels for short periods to be unnoticed and will visit many EU countries, because the demand for these ladies is, as we know, very high. Police investigations are made more difficult by this method of sex transport. You can go about your business fairly undisturbed. Sometimes there are also people who allow themselves to be used as a kind of cat catcher and act as guarantor and if the lady in question has disappeared or is out of time, the referent will come up with excuses that he or she also does not know where that person is currently staying. At the time, we conducted an investigation into companies in the Netherlands and one of them had allowed as many as 1000 people to come to the Netherlands on a visa basis on an annual basis. Some 750 people of African descent had disappeared like snow in the sun and therefore illegally in the EU. This company also washed their hands in innocence.
After all, there is a lot of fraud and people have become very savvy about it.
Thank you for your compliment and explanation.
I still understand that about the false papers, but a solid background story (why does the foreigner go back? Where does he work? Who can confirm that?) Seems a lot more difficult to me. The human traffickers will always have to find a new story and evidence for this. Time after time with, for example, the same employment contract from the same Big C with the same manager there who can confirm the -invented- story of the visa applicant. Providing hundreds of solid profiles (stories in which the visa applicant must also be properly instructed) and supporting documents is still quite a challenge. But hopefully that's one of the reasons they'll run into the lamp.
Once in Europe, it is already a cat and mouse game, I can imagine.
So you can also claim that someone who buys a bicycle completely legally is partly guilty of perpetuating the bicycle theft.
Eliminating supply and demand in the prostitution industry is an illusion.
Criminalizing the market is not a solution.
Action must be taken where there is abuse/exploitation. In this respect, Germany apparently does not stop at beautifully formulated objectives.
Dear Frans, this is not a comparison. A Gruthokker is exempt from selling stolen bicycles. There is no guarantee if you buy a bicycle there. Unless the law has changed, but I don't think so. So know what you're doing.
Once again I am not for total abolition of prostitution. This may be possible under certain conditions. After all, there are people who can only feel comfortable in this way, because they are not suitable for a permanent relationship or other ways are conceivable.
You are also aware that there is a lot of crime in the sex industry and that is why by definition this already falls under a market that is peppered with this. The industry is criminalizing itself with this. In many countries it is still a criminal offense to do this. This form of crime is not only in the spotlight in Germany. In the Netherlands there are the necessary criminal investigations that are picked up every year by the teams of serious crime, but it is indeed the tip of the iceberg. A lot of information is not picked up because of staff cuts and available money. But yes, everything has a price tag and politicians make choices that are not in my favor, but people keep voting for the wrong parties and so nothing changes in this area.
I have my doubts that many of those girls would not be aware of the purpose for which they went to Germany. All day long they chat with each other on all kinds of social media. At any time of the day, they are up to date with what their friends all over the world are up to.
I also live in Thailand and I hear that the girls know very well why this or that friend went to Korea Hong Kong or Dubai. They also know very well that that is not for cleaning. By the way, if a Thai emigrates, it is usually for the big money.
30 years ago I would have believed a lot of that, but not anymore. Of course, in retrospect, playing the victim is always the best defense.
With this I absolutely do not want to claim that there is a lot of crime around prostitution and exploitation certainly exists. But I'm a bit suspicious about such things.
Ah, you doubt the veracity of what those ladies, sorry 'girls and girls' have to say. And you think that they only took on the 'victim' role 'after the fact' in order to benefit from it.
What moves you to address those 'girls and girls'?
Think for a moment: young lady or man is not well off and thinks or is told that there is good money to be made in Europe (or Dubai, etc.) with work in massage or prostitution. Out of need or greed, the person responds to it. The trafficker will arrange the papers and false alibi (fake employment contract as proof of bond and return reason, false bank papers, etc.) The foreigner must then lie according to the instructions. The foreigner has to pay something to the human trafficker as a commission, but they will settle this after arrival in Europe. Once here, the stranger is taken in, passport is taken away and the debt is irredeemable. The foreigner remains under the yoke of the human trafficker and thus becomes a kind of slave. The beautiful story of (illegal) work and easy / quick money appears to have been a lie.
A long time ago I sometimes visited a Dutch café in Del Pilar Street in the then infamous Mabini red light district, which was later closed by Mayor Lim of Manila in the Philippines.
An employee of the Dutch embassy regularly visited that café and could provide a visa for Filipino ladies within one day for a nice 'fee'. Understandably, that café had an attraction for traffickers in women.
There was also a message in the Bangkok Post today about Thai human trafficking in Germany.
This is the message in the BP:
https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/crime/1448191/germany-smashes-thai-sex-trade-gang#cxrecs_s