Three arrested in slave-masseuse horror

Police in Ho Chi Minh City Monday arrested three people at a massage parlor in Thu Duc District for illegally detaining and extorting money from their female employees.

The three arrestees were owner Phan Cao Tri and his wife Phan Thi Yen, and Tri’s brother-in-law Phan Viet Hau.

In addition, police found another parlor run by Tri on Kha Van Can Street in the same district and three more managed by his relatives in Binh Duong and Dong Nai provinces, a local newswire reported.

Monday, police rescued more than 100 women who were forced to work as masseuses and prostitutes at the four aforesaid parlors. The women reported being treated like slaves.

Police also seized an RG-88 pistol and seven cartridges during the raids.

In an initial raid on Saturday, police found more than 130 women being detained in Tri’s Tan Hoang Phat massage parlor on Street No. 4 in HCMC’s Thu Duc District.

Dozens more women told police Monday of maltreatment while working at Tri’s parlors.

All the businesses allegedly detained women; beat them; forced them to perform sex acts on customers; controlled their meals; extorted money from them; and locked them in dog cages as punishment.

A 21-year-old woman from Dong Thap Province said she had suffered vertebral injuries last year while trying to escape from Tri’s parlor through the second floor after five months working there.

She said Hau had punched her after she fell to the ground and her family was forced to pay VND13.5 million (US$800) to her captors for her release.

Phan Van Vu, who worked as a waiter at the parlor, said Tri used to threaten him at gunpoint and would fire into the air.

Vu also said he witnessed Tri and Hau speaking with the head of the neighborhood and a policeman in charge of the area every week.

A police source said Tri, a former xe om (motorbike taxi) driver, had opened the Tan Hoang Phat between 2001 and 2002.

He said the arrested couple reported earning more than VND2 billion ($118,000) a month from massage services.

Reported by Nguyen Bao