No sex on Valentine's, Thai police warn teens

Feb 13, 2008

Alarmed by polls showing one in four Thai teens will celebrate St. Valentine's Day by having sex, police plan to swoop on motels, malls and parks to ensure youths behave themselves on the "Day of Love".

thai sexThe annual campaign to ensure good behaviour on February 14 will see city officials turn on all lights at public parks in the capital Bangkok, while parents are urged to make sure their teenagers come home early.

Police and "student inspectors" from the Education Ministry will be checking discrete "curtain" motels to make sure youths under the legal age of 18 are not using them for amorous interludes.

"We will send patrols to check out public parks, restaurants and shopping malls, which are the starting points for potential sexual activities that will be done at home or motels," Bangkok police spokesman Suporn Pansuea said.

Thailand's moral guardians are taking action after an Assumption University poll showed 27 percent of 2,400 Bangkok teenagers surveyed said they might have sex on Wednesday.

Despite Bangkok's reputation as one of the world's sex industry centres, predominately Buddhist Thailand is generally a conservative country.