KL wary of Thai whores at SEA games

KL wary of Thai whores at SEA games

BANGKOK (AFP): Malaysian authorities concerned about a huge influx of Thai prostitutes during next month's Southeast Asian Games have asked Thai police to screen women crossing the border, a report said Friday.

A senior immigration official told The Nation newspaper that Malaysia was afraid visitors to its capital Kuala Lumpur would get the wrong impression if the city was packed with sex workers during the Sept. 8-17 Games.

Police Colonel Surin Palare from the Sadao border checkpoint said Thailand had already blacklisted some 200 women who were deported from Malaysia on prostitution charges.

Surin said the crackdown for the Games would also help authorities dismantle multinational gangs which traffic women around the region.

Malaysian authorities have asked for more information from their Thai counterparts on how Thai prostitutes managed to evade immigration checks and find their way across the border, he said. "The information will (enable) preventive measures to be taken."

Some 4,500 athletes from the 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will compete in the 21st SEA Games.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.