Shocked tourists looked on as police raided a bar allegedly selling child prostitutes to tourists in Bangkok, Thailand.

Hundreds of revellers were drinking in the single-storey shopping mall-style plaza of more than 30 bars in the Nana area of the capital when officers burst in on Tuesday night at 9 pm.

Police said they found a 14-year-old girl and two 15-year-old girls being offered to holidaymakers for sex. The manager would allegedly let men buy drinks for the youngsters while they were groped and the manager tried to persuade the men to pay 1,000 Baht (22.90 GBP) to take them back to their hotel.

Alleged madam Ratchada Sitakhet, 42, the manager of the '789 Bar' on Sukhumvit Soi 7, was arrested during the raid on suspicion of human trafficking while Brits among the crowds were ordered out of the venue as officers pulled down the shutters.

One shaken onlooker from Dagenham, east London, said they were shocked to discover that children were being abused at the enclave of bars in the busy Sukhumvit Road area of the capital, where dozens of multi-storey hotels run by multinational corporations line the streets.

The man, who did not want to be named, said: 'I'm staying in Thailand for a few weeks and I went for a beer at that set of bars, which only opened last year. There are about 30 or 40 small bars inside, like a market.

'Some of the pubs have pool tables and live bands, but I noticed there was some shouting from a bar opposite me and the music stopped. There were lots of police. The next thing we were being told to leave.

'I'm quite shocked and appalled that this was happening right in front of me. I will never be going back there.'

Thailand's Department of Administrative Affairs said they planned the raid on March 15 with information supplied by the charity Operation Underground Railroad.

They said in a statement that the 'victims' were 'good-looking girls' working in an 'unlicensed brothel'. The woman supplying them also allegedly worked as an estate agent.

The children were 'offering sexual services' to tourists, who could then pay a fee of around 1,000 Baht to take them away from the bar, the government agency said.

Ronnaron Tipsiri from Thailand's Bureau of Investigation and Legal Affairs Department added: 'We found that the suspect brought girls to sell to both tourists and Thai customers who came to the brothel to buy prostitutes. This should not happen to children. I never thought there would be a business like this in the heart of Bangkok.

'An entertainment establishment should have social responsibility. This is an industry where children are forbidden to work. Any business found with hidden services engaging in the prostitution of children, which is an offence of human trafficking, will have a very high legal penalty.'

Supree Saowichit, director of the Operation Underground Railroad in Thailand, said that the suspect targeted children from poor backgrounds.

They added: 'The offender often chose children or people who were vulnerable because of their economic, social status, or lack of parental care or a lack of restraint from the deception of the offender.'

Ratchada was arrested and taken to the Lumphini Police Station where she was remanded in custody while being questioned on suspicion of human trafficking, procurement for prostitution, providing prostitution, inducing or encouraging children to behave inappropriately and the offense of opening a service place without permission.