More than 100 Chinese nationals held at Cambodian immigration centers have been sent home as authorities work to clear the facilities of crowding amid a spate of crime and forced labor.
Five individuals are being questioned in the Preah Sihanouk court over arms dealing, while 21 Thai nationals were removed from Sihanoukville scam operations that used Tinder and Line to lure people to invest in fraudulent schemes, Cambodian and Thai authorities said.
Both alleged scammers and apparent human-trafficking victims were among dozens of Thai and two Taiwanese nationals taken in by police.
A Thai woman who claimed 10 days ago that her blood was harvested at a Sihanoukville scam operation said Friday she had fabricated her account in order to get a swift rescue.
Thai police officials spoke to VOD about the rising number of Thai nationals lured by scam operations in Cambodia and provided insight into their efforts to rescue victims and the abuses perpetrated by these companies.
Thai police has revealed details of recently arrested Thai nationals working at scam operations in Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville, and the limited assistance they were getting from their Cambodian counterparts.
As accusations of forced labor and confinement at scam operations across Cambodia come to the fore, two Thai nationals spoke to VOD about how they were detained and duped into scamming other people at sites in Poipet and Sihanoukville.
Chhay Loeum, a Cambodian migrant, was rounded up by police from Thailand’s Labor Ministry along with seven other workers making an appeal over unpaid wages. Rights advocates say the incident illustrates the Thai government’s broken promises and indifference to one of the most vulnerable groups in Thai society.
The sister of disappeared activist Wanchalearm Satsaksit was summoned to a prosecutor’s office on Monday. Though it’s a first for Sitanan, criminal prosecution has become a routine reality for hundreds of Thais taking a stand in the country’s pro-democracy movement.
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