According to police officials, Krissanee is suspected of selling the Thai girl,
then 13, to a different Thai woman who dealt in prostitution in Tokyo's
Shinjuku Ward in late October 2002. The price for the girl was 2.3 million yen
(about $20,700 USD), police said.
Shiratori is suspected of later introducing the girl to a different prostitute
dealer in Gunma Prefecture.
The girl was arrested in April last year on suspicion of illegally staying in
Japan. She was deported to Thailand.
A police officer quoted her as saying, "(As a prostitute,) I had sex with a
total of about 200 men in such places as Utsuno miya, Matsudo (Chiba
Prefecture) and Tokyo."
The girl had been invited by another Thai woman to come to Japan for a job,
police said. She arrived in Japan with a different Thai woman through the
United States and Brazil.
She ended up owing the human traffickers about 5 million yen, police said.
In Japan, she received only daily living expenses and 30,000 yen a month, which
she sent to her family in Thailand, police said.
Many foreign women are believed to have been tricked by human traffickers into
coming to Japan, only to wind up heavily indebted. They are forced to pay off
their debts through proceeds from prostitution.
The Japanese government has been harshly criticized for its insufficient
measures to prevent human trafficking.
Last year, the U.S. State Department placed Japan on a "watch list" of
countries woefully lacking in anti-human trafficking laws.
Embarrassed by the label, Tokyo worked out an action plan against human
trafficking late last year.
Last month, the Diet passed a revised Criminal Code, which specifies
punishments for hu man traffickers. The revised Criminal Code will take effect
on July 12.
IHT/Asahi
