Many Thai male cross-dressers get legitimate jobs in Oman as masseuses but choose to also offer sexual services on the side, a Thai embassy official in Muscat said.

Panida Somao said the laws in Oman were very strict and only men were allowed to work at massage parlours for male customers.

Bahraini authorities recently arrested 10 Thai women on charges of prostitution. Of them, three have been released because they were victims of human trafficking, while the remainder confessed that they had decided to enter the flesh trade for money.

Read more: The Nation