An Interior Ministry official said Wednesday that Preah Sihanouk provincial police had detained one Chinese man and rescued 16 Malaysians who were held against their will at a compound in Sihanoukville.
Khieu Sopheak, the ministry’s spokesperson, said police had responded to a complaint made to a hotline about a company facility in Village 6 of the city’s Buon commune on Tuesday. With cooperation of the owners of the facility, officers inspected the premises and found the Malaysian men and women. They also brought in the one Chinese man for further questioning.
“Among the 16, some of them have passports while some do not have,” Sopheak said, adding that some of their documents had been taken. “It is the same story and not different from each other. … [They were] getting a high salary, but were detained and not allowed to leave. Everyone that we have met, all asked to return to their countries, and after questioning [we believe] there was no torture.”
Sopheak said the 16 detainees could only stay in the compound or their rooms. The group was allegedly indebted to their employer, and had to earn money to pay their debts.
“We help every day because there have been complaints through siblings or authorities overseas,” he said. “Just on [Sar Kheng’s] Facebook, for a few days there have been 40 cases that complained there.”
In a separate operation, Preah Sihanouk provincial police rescued five Vietnamese nationals, though in that case authorities again denied any detention.
Nop Panha, deputy Preah Sihanouk provincial police chief in charge of penal crime, said his forces located and rescued five Vietnamese nationals — three men and two women — from a workplace in the province on Tuesday. After questioning a manager, authorities determined that there was no detention and torture, and the five just wanted to return to their hometowns.
“We will still continue our procedure with them,” he said.
Phan Veasna, head of the National Police’s hotline center, said the provincial police were responding to a complaint that was received the afternoon before, and that the location of the detention was in Buon commune’s Village 4.
National Police spokesman Chhay Kim Khoeun told VOD on Wednesday that officials planned to hold a press conference to explain why they consider these cases “labor disputes” and not detention, and declined to give those reasons on-the-record for now.
Meanwhile, officials announced they would deport Vietnamese nationals found at another suspected forced-labor facility along the border in the Chrey Thom commune of Kandal province’s Koh Thom district.
That facility was the site of a dramatic August 18 escape in which 42 people ran from the compound and leaped into the Binh Di river to swim to Vietnam. One of them, a 16-year-old, drowned in the attempt.
Immigration police spokesman Keo Vanthan said police found 11 further people at the Chrey Thom casino who did not have passports, but otherwise declined to provide information about the investigation of the casino.
“We have worked on it and requested our leaders to expel [them], and when the expulsion announcement arrives, we will expel them, complying with the immigration law,” he said.
Vanthan declined to give additional information about the police investigation of the casino and referred questions to the Kandal provincial police, who did not answer a call for comment.
Additional reporting by Mam Sampichida
