A GOLD Coast hairdresser charged with bringing Thai sex slaves into Australia wants his passport back so he can lead "pamper tours" to Asia. In August, Keith William Dobie, 46, became the first person arrested under new laws designed to clamp down on international sex slavery. He was charged with three counts of people trafficking, as well as money laundering and giving false information to the Department of Immigration. Dobie was forced to surrender his passport but asked Southport Magistrate's Court to vary his bail conditions to allow him to travel to Asia. Dobie's barrister, Dane Thornburgh, told the court that adverse publicity about the charges had ruined his client's hairdressing business and he was $100,000 in debt. Mr Thornburgh said the only way Dobie could repay the loan was to revert to his former involvement in "pamper tours" to Asia. The tours involving taking groups of women to Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand for beauty treatments and shopping sprees. Mr Thornburgh said Dobie was willing to forgo travel to Thailand, where the charges stemmed from, "if that's what it takes . . . to try and run his life". He also was prepared to report to Australian authorities within 24 hours of arriving in overseas destinations, he said, adding that the charges against his client were "dubious to say the least and extremely tenuous". Commonwealth prosecutor Laura Manville said the bail variation was was "vigorously opposed" because Dobie was considered an unacceptable flight risk. Ms Manville said Australian authorities should not have to track Dobie down if he failed to return to Australia. "Once he's gone, he's gone," she said. The case against Dobie was strong and he faced up to 12 years in jail if convicted of people trafficking, Ms Manville said. Magistrate Graeme Lee reserved his decision until tomorrow