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.