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A woman charged with running a brothel in the commercial and military port of Sattahip has become a test case for new laws punishing people in the sex trade.

  Until this month, women and men 'looking to eat' - selling sex for money - got off lightly.

  Brothel owners or pimps were given small fines or sentenced to short jail terms while customers usually escaped punishment.

  Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat, who made prostitution illegal after he seized power in a 1958 coup, was obsessed with cleanliness and order but thought nothing of keeping about 200 mistresses himself.

  The new laws impose stiff penalties against all 'vultures of the sex trade', according to an official in the Thai attorney-general's office.

  Tourists with a predilection for under-aged girls face severe jail sentences.

  Having sex with someone under 18 can earn up to three years in jail. Sleep with someone under 15 and the term can extend to six years.

  Parents who allow their children to play the sex trade face up to 20 years in jail.

  Brothel owners, pimps and parents will be hit even harder.

  The alleged Sattahip procurer is said to have offered the sexual services of seven women working in her bar - at least one of whom was under 18.



Stringent laws on prostitution face test case