ZONE:

The owner of a Bangkok sauna has been sentenced to five months in prison on Wednesday at the Southern Bangkok Criminal Court after he was found guilty of procuring 27 Thai men for a gay sex party in August this year, according to The Nation.

Nikhon Niamthong, 26, the owner of the Colony Sauna on Soi Thong Lor had recruited 27 men from a bar in the Saphan Kwai area for Bt1,000 each as "dates" for men attending the party, according to the testimony given by a prosecution witness who worked in the sauna.

The party, the witness said, was a birthday party for 56-year-old British national Richard John Duffy, who later denied the charges saying he had no knowledge of the 27 Thai men and that his British friends had organised the party as a "surprise" for him.

A team of plainclothes police, who said they acted on a tip-off, raided the party and found about 50 Thai and foreign men drinking and eating beside a swimming pool in which other men were swimming naked while some were hugging and kissing.

Duffy was acquitted as the judges said that there was insufficient evidence to prove that Duffy had hired the 27 men for the party. The court however found that Nikhon had allowed the sex party to be held on his premise.