Thailand launches sex worker crackdown as USS Abraham Lincoln arrives

Thai authorities detained dozens of people on suspicion of prostitution in a sweeping crackdown in the tourist hub of Pattaya ahead of the arrival of roughly 5,000 U.S. sailors and Marines on Wednesday.

Between 40 and 50 people were detained in police raids over the weekend, the Reuters news agency and local media in the city reported.

The USS Abraham Lincoln arrived in eastern Thailand on Wednesday, finally reaching port after a record-setting continuous at-sea deployment that had prompted U.S. lawmakers to call for investigations into deteriorating conditions and mental health concerns aboard the ship.

The carrier lasted more than 200 days without a port call after it was rerouted from the South China Sea to the Middle East in January in support of the U.S. war against Iran, which started the following month. The thousands of sailors and Marines will spend four days in Thailand before continuing back to the carrier’s home port in San Diego.

Pattaya’s neon-illuminated party districts have a reputation for often-visible sex tourism, despite prostitution being illegal in Thailand.

However, advocacy groups and officials acknowledge it’s not always fully policed and sometimes hard for authorities to detect.

“We are ⁠doing our best, but it is difficult,” Pattaya police chief Anek Srathongyoo said on Monday, in comments cited by Reuters.

Police and local officials carried out a “late-night inspection” of the beach area and other popular parts of the city on August 29, local outlet The Pattaya Mail reported on Monday.

This is a developing story and will be updated.