As provincial authorities announce and enact several raids against illegal detention, torture and human trafficking across Sihanoukville compounds, residents say other companies appear to be quietly emptying buildings of foreign workers.
The Preah Sihanouk provincial administration announced that law enforcement raided a compound in Sihanoukville’s Bei commune over five days, sending a total of 12 suspects for questioning and saddling hundreds of foreign workers with penalties for improper immigration and employment documents — and seizing nearly $80,000 and 9,000 phones.
The statement published on Sunday said that authorities had raided a building called Xinshan Great Wall Park from last Tuesday through Saturday, accusing the operation of human trafficking, sex trafficking, torture and detention.
Authorities found that 141 foreigners — including 130 Chinese nationals and 11 Vietnamese nationals — had entered the country illegally and would be sent to the national immigration department. In addition, 262 foreigners were working without work permits and would be fined, the statement said.
The statement said 27 foreigners were sent to the provincial police for questioning, including 10 alleged sex workers, five unspecified victims and 12 suspects. Police decided to investigate six of the 12 suspects further for crimes including money laundering, illegal gambling, human trafficking and sex trafficking, according to the statement.
Authorities also confiscated $78,840 in cash, as well as 8,776 phones, 804 computers, 16 laptops, 36 passports, four pairs of handcuffs, 10 different electric shock tools and documents. Foreigners who weren’t under investigation would be allowed to leave the compound, but the operation — which spanned three buildings inside one complex — would be closed until police completed the investigation.
Police had not yet identified the “mastermind” behind the operation, the statement added.
The park — also previously identified as Bing Cheng — appeared emptied as of Sunday night, a reporter found.
According to the Commerce Ministry’s registry, a company called Bing Cheng International Entertainment is registered to a Cambodian national named Eong Vannrith, who was previously director of a company called Xi Gang Hong Da Properties, along with three Burmese nationals.
A second statement from the Preah Sihanouk administration, signed on Monday, identified three additional compounds under investigation.
Those compounds were Galaxy World in Buon commune; Pao Yong Technology, which a reporter identified as being next to the previously-raided Jin Gang compound; and Jincai 5 — a Muoy commune complex where a volunteer rescue worker attempted, and failed, to rescue two detained workers in May.
A military police officer was blocking the entrance to the Jincai 5 compound when a reporter visited on Monday, not allowing people in or out of the compound unless they showed identification. He remarked to a reporter that anyone who was allowed in might not be able to get out.
Another raided compound, Galaxy World, was devoid of parked tuk-tuk drivers and food vendors that generally roam the area.
A company called Galaxy World is directed by three individuals — Hun Chhor Roth, Sok Dara and Sar Narin — while another company called Galaxy World (Cambodia) Trading Center Platform Online has one Cambodian director called Meas Vannak. Both companies are registered to the same address in Buon commune’s Village 5.
An entrepreneur named Sok Dara, with an identical address to the Sok Dara in Galaxy World in Chbar Ampov II commune, was a former director of the company Fairplay Entertainment alongside a director of White Sand Palace casino, another known scam compound.
Amid the raids, a Buon commune block of buildings known as a hub of forced labor in online companies — broadly called Chinatown — was emptied. A reporter witnessed police roaming the compound, and the reporter could enter through gates between office buildings that were usually heavily guarded.
A guard for the Kaibo complex — which also hosts the registered business K.B. Hotel — claimed that more than 1,000 people had left the compound Sunday, with some headed to Oddar Meanchey’s O’Smach town.
A tuk-tuk driver who gave his name as Samnang said one of his friends had been driving Chinese people out of the Buon commune complex since last month. Samnang said he had witnessed five or six buses leaving at a time.
“This is like pig trafficking or trading humans,” he said. “These Chinese people are being treated like slaves, and they only worked to eat and they did not get pay, and when they left, they leave with nothing.”
A guard still stationed outside the emptied buildings of the Chinatown area said all Chinese, Vietnamese and Cambodian workers had left and the businesses in the complex were no longer allowed to operate.
“They had all come here illegally and they are very scared of Cambodian police,” he claimed.
When a reporter approached one cluster of Chinatown buildings, three workers were cutting barbed wire from around a compound.
“We have to cut this down since the police say that it’s designed to detain people,” one worker said. “Actually we did detain [people] from running out of the building, but we cannot keep this barbed wire when the police come, we would be in trouble, so we need to clear it.”
Local Chinese language news outlet Cambodia-China Times also reported a noon raid on Sunday of ZhengHeng New Energy’s office in Sihanoukville.
According to the Commerce Ministry’s business registry, ZhengHeng New Energy is directed by Zhu Ronghui, a Chinese national, with an office in Koh Pich’s Elite Town borey. The company’s contact details are the same as that of ZhengHeng Group in Phnom Penh.
Earlier this month, Zhengheng Group offered VOD editors money to remove its name from an article — and threatened vague legal actions if not — after the publication of an article about a worker trapped in a scam compound in Koh Kong’s Long Bay Resort complex, which Zhengheng Group is developing.
An unnamed police officer allegedly told CC Times that at least 10 people were arrested from yet another gated building in Sihanoukville’s Buon commune on Sunday night.
