Why am I always talking trash about Pattaya? Well, because somehow this dump of a destination is one of the most highly visiting portions of Thailand and I really feel like that is a shame. I find no redeeming qualities for this place: The food is crap, the accommodation is crap and overpriced, the beach is crap, and all this place is, is basically a gigantic red-light district with a ton of drugs available as well.
The prozzie side of things seems to need more variety than just your average 20 year old Isaan farmer girl that has been taught a bit of English and recently, someone was busted that has been filling that void, apparently.
A Uzbekistan woman who was well-known to be overstaying on her visa was lured into a trap by Immigration in Pattaya. The reason? There was a bunch of information linking her to a dirty ring of human traffickers that would lure vulnerable Uzbek girls into a "job" in Thailand, namely Bangkok and Pattaya, and the confiscate their passports and force them into sex work. While the girls were told their passports would be returned if they raised $5000 to pay for transportation costs, the real deal here was the pimps had no intention of ever letting them stop earning for them, and they would be moved around between Bangkok and Pattaya and forced to work at various clubs.
The Uzbek woman's name is Khurshida Urmanova and apparently she has been running this game for a long time. She got a bit arrogant and started overstaying her visa, and in that time enough trouble brewed up in her home country that she was wanted by Interpol and I guess was afraid to renew her visa out of fear.
This sort of thing almost certainly happens in places like Pattaya more than you might think because in just the few times I have been wandering around that beach city there have been obvious red-light girls that are from all over the world. I suppose Russian and Russian-looking women are in high demand to some people such as Asians. I am guessing here.
But the real story here is that there is a reason why these human traffickers choose a place like Pattaya to set up shop. This woman here is being "busted" probably only because Interpol was looking for her. How many similar style of individuals are running the same game and targeting the poor of other countries in order to peddle them in the clubs over here in the more seedy parts of Thailand?
Thailand has a strange relationship with prostitution. It is deeply ingrained into society to the point where it is well known that if you are in some random part of the countryside and see Christmas lights strewn up in some bushes on the side of the road, that means there are women for rent there. Also, there are "24" hotels all over the place that specialize in privacy. I wonder why ?
Although technically illegal, Thailand publicly denounces prostitution but privately embraces it. Everyone knows where the red-light districts are and they never get busted why? Because the police are taking a part in it. Even here in super-serious Chiang Mai, where the military enforces a great deal of the laws we have the Loi Kroh road which is well-known for being red-light.
As far as this Uzbek woman is concerned, you can be guaranteed that there are plenty more women and men just like her that are waiting to take her place to continue the same operation. Until places like Pattaya actually decide to stop allowing this sort of thing to happen on a "retail" level, someone will always fill the void. Pattaya is one gigantic brothel for the most part, and I always find it amusing when the police like to pose for pictures for some big "bust" they made when the only reason that this sort of thing is still going on in Pattaya is because not only do they not bust it, but they are actively involved in its operation.