Police are hunting a Chinese gang accused of tricking women into sex work following the death of a Kyrgyz woman in Pattaya, Thailand.

Kyrgyz national Anara Seitaleva, 30, leapt to her death from the seventh floor of luxury condominium in Khao Phrabat Thap Phraya in Pattaya, Chonburi on September 16 in what officers believe to be suicide.

Police found her broken body on the ground with banknotes worth 10,000 THB scattered all around. Officers took her remains to a forensic institute for an autopsy.

Officers believe she was tricked into the travelling to Thailand and then forced to work as a prostitute by the gang originating from China, which has seen a worrying increase in criminals flooding into neighbouring countries.

Major General Thitawat Suriyachai said: ‘The neighbors told us they heard a loud bang at the time of the incident. They found the deceased struggling to breathe on the ground and had tried to call for help, but it was already too late. We believe she threw the banknotes around before plunging to her death.'

There were reportedly no signs of intrusion or attack inside the room from where Anara jumped. A sweep of the flat found antibiotics and anti-nausea medication next to the bed.

The apartment owner, a German friend of the deceased, said that Anara had been staying in his property for a week.

He said: 'She is a friend of my Kyrgyz girlfriend. She asked for shelter and said she was being hunted by Chinese gangs.'

Police said Anara had filed a complaint at the Pattaya City police station on September 13, claiming to have been deceived and forced into prostitution by Chinese gangsters in Pattaya and Bangkok for more than two months.

The suspected traffickers reportedly lured her to Thailand with the promise of a tourism-related job that pays a 20,000 THB (540 USD) monthly salary, before allegedly hauling her to a call centre in Laos, where her passport was taken from her.

However, she was later brought back to Bangkok and forced to do sex work mainly for visitors from China and Europe.

Major General Thitawat added: ‘From investigations, we found that one of the suspects, Hong Konger Nin Wai Siu, 48, picked the deceased up from the Suvarnabhumi Airport on July 16 and took her to Laos to work in a call center.

'But since the deceased could not do the work, she was then sent back to Thailand on July 27 to two Chinese female panderers, Song Qianli, 32, and Rou Li, 27.

‘The deceased was forced into prostitution before escaping on September 11 and asked for help from her German friend.'

The policeman said that another Chinese suspect named Wang Lang, 45, with links to the trio has been taken in for interrogations.

Local courts have approved arrest warrants for the Chinese nationals, who are believed to have fled the area.

China has become a source of gangs that profit from drugs, boiler rooms and prostitution in Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar.