BANGKOK- A Thai woman was sentenced to 18 years in jail Friday for trafficking women from her hometown to Italy, where they were forced to work in prostitution, court officials said.

The Thai Criminal Court found Kularb Thongmisri, 42, guilty of procuring three woman from an impoverished part of Si Sa Ket province in northeast Thailand to work in the Italian sex industry three years ago.

The victims, aged 42, 40 and 31, were lured to Europe by Kularb with the promise of well-paid jobs as house maids. But she made them pay an advance sum of 500,000 baht (S$21,000) each for travel costs.

After arriving in Milan via Vienna in February 2006, the women were forced to work as prostitutes until Italian police smashed the racket and repatriated them to Thailand in August 2006, the court said.

Kularb was arrested in Si Sa Ket in July 2007 after she returned from Italy. She was also ordered by the court to pay the three women a total of US$43,500 (S$63,000) in compensation. -AFP