Sutthisan police have raided one of two unregistered massage parlours in the Ratchadaphisek area linked to Kampol Wirathepsuporn, a suspect who fled the country after his massage parlour was shut down over a human trafficking case.
Mr Kampol was the owner of Victoria Secret massage parlour in Bangkok, which was closed in 2018.
Police on Friday night raided a luxury massage parlour called Lalisa, formerly known as Copacabana, on Soi Ratchadaphisek 17 in Din Daeng district, said a police source. Police said they learnt the massage parlour only began operating that day.
Chuvit Kamolvisit, former massage parlour tycoon and politician, however, said on Facebook on Sunday that Lalisa had been open for "quite a while", even before the police inspection.
Mr Chuvit said he knows the place, a two-storey building, well because he had it built himself and sold it to Mr Kampol two decades ago.
Citing information supplied by a source, he said that by the time the police raided the place, about 10 patrons in suites were told to flee. One guest and a hostess were caught by police in a VIP room, he added.
Police arrested Somsak Chindanuphachit, 63, and Natthawat Rakthamcharoen, 32, caretakers of the place, and charged them with colluding to operate a massage parlour, Mr Chuvit said. The suspects have been released on bail with a surety of 50,000 baht, he said.
Lalisa is a renovated version of Copacabana, Mr Chuvit said.
Another recently opened massage parlour, The Palace Hotel & Spa, was called The Lord Hotel & Spa before it was renovated and renamed, he said, adding the outlet is now jointly owned by a group of Thai and Chinese investors who deal in the grey market.
The land on which the massage parlour sits was acquired using loans secured through Mr Kampol's company in the Cayman Islands, a paradise for money launderers, according to Mr Chuvit.
The Palace Hotel & Spa is under the jurisdiction of Huai Khwang police, whose chief last week was transferred over the extortion case involving a Taiwanese actress.
Mr Chuvit said he wonders how Mr Kampol can manage the massage parlours while being on the run.
According to another source, the massage parlours were owned by Mr Kampol but were later transferred to someone else after Mr Kampol was implicated in the human trafficking case.
