Free The Grey Man by John Curtis

opportunity and slowly I began to make progress.
    On arriving in Thailand I had decided not to contact the Thai police and tell them what I wanted to do; I made this decision because I'd been told by other expats that all Thai police were corrupt. It's not just the expats who believe this: police and politicians are the least trusted people in Thailand and they're often part of the problem rather than the solution to crime. Some cops even own brothels and I have heard of kids being trafficked in police vehicles.
    However, over time I learned that there are many highly principled Thai police officers, and that the issue of corruption is not as cut and dried as we view it in the west. Police are not well paid and so low-level corruption, as we would think of it, does take place. A police officer will often ‘buy’ a beat or a promotion in order to move to a bigger or more profitable part of the country. Profit comes through charging protection money from businesses in the beat or district, who, from what I was led to understand, generally go along with all this. For his or her part, the officer in charge enforces the law of the land and protects his clients. The system seems to work well, as long as the officers are ‘honest’ and don't take money from criminals to turn a blind eye to their activities, which of course happens far too often. This does not mean, though, that the officer in question would take money from a drug dealer or paedophile or a trafficker to avoid prosecution – some would, but not all. It's a grey area. The Grey Man now works closely with the police in every country in which it operates.
    If I wasn't going to work with the police in those early days I realised I needed to make contact with other people who could help me fulfil my mission. If I found an underage girl in a bar or brothel I couldn't very well front up with her at a police station, as I had no legal authority to be rescuing kids. Likewise, until I had established my bona fides with some organisation or other I was at risk of being compromised – or even accused of being a paedophile myself – if someone took exception to my presence.
    Hoping to give myself a bit of cover, I found a number for the Australian Federal Police liaison officer in Chiang Mai. The AFP maintains a presence there because Chiang Mai is close to the Burmese border and the ‘Golden Triangle’ – an area covering northern Thailand, eastern Burma and western Laos that is famous for opium growing. Chiang Mai itself is a hub for drug smuggling as well as people trafficking. I called the AFP office a few times and left messages, but no one returned my calls.
    To start orientating myself I began going out at night and exploring the seedier side of Chiang Mai. Many of the brothels are located in an area called Santi Tam, although others are dotted throughout the city. The brothels are distinct from the bars and go-go clubs, mostly clustered near Thapae Gate, which also provide girls. The brothels had rooms on the premises for customers to use the girls' services, whereas the go-go bars had no rooms. Go-go girls dance with numbers on their bodies and male customers ask the mamasan to have a drink with girl number such-and-such. If the customer wants to then have sex with the girl he takes her back to his hotel room, or a local place the girl knows.
    I actually hate bars and their cigarette smell. I rarely drink alcohol, but I'd sometimes nurse one while I sussed a place out. The bar girls would hit on me, and although I found some of the girls appealing, I was there for another purpose. As well as carrying out reconnaissance I used these visits to practise my Thai with the girls, asking them questions about their lives and their work.
    In the first few weeks, I had no clear direction in my mind other than that I was there to rescue kids, but I was getting the lay of the land and attempting to suss out from pimps and bar owners where I might