Cambodia pledged “drastic measures” against scam compounds in response to U.N. queries about 100,000 alleged human trafficking victims in Sihanoukville, but also denied finding any debt bondage and placed the country’s “reputation, dignity and benefits” at the top of its principles for combating the crime.
The interior minister warned provincial authorities against colluding with organized crime as he revealed he had received a peak of 10 human-trafficking complaints daily in August before scam crimes spread across the country.
Thirty-four Indonesian nationals were rescued from Poipet after being trafficked to the country. Also, Thai police found data cables stretching across the border with Cambodia and used by scam operations in Poipet
Interior Minister Sar Kheng acknowledged that the syndicates trafficking workers into Cambodia also appear to be conducting fraud, alluding to operations that have been revealed for months in media reports.
Amid targeted raids and arrests against scam and human trafficking operations in Cambodia, accounts from victims and a rescue group indicate that at least some syndicates are going to great lengths to relocate workers to a new country to evade capture.
Sihanoukville authorities have fielded 420 human trafficking complaints in 51 days, leading to 1,605 foreign nationals being marked for deportation, according to an official report.
Hundreds of foreign nationals have been removed from Phnom Penh compounds as police acknowledged detention, torture, extortion and human trafficking in several arrests.
Nearly 9,000 phones were seized from a Sihanoukville compound and barbed wire cut from the notorious “Chinatown” area. As human trafficking raids target compounds across the city, residents say other buildings appear to be quietly emptying of foreign workers.
Top government officials continued high-level meetings over human trafficking on Monday as Preah Sihanouk provincial authorities ordered all building owners to report foreign residents and workers on their premises by September 24.
Masterminds and brokers are operating online scams and fraud syndicates out of Cambodia, Interior Minister Sar Kheng admitted on Thursday, but argued that Cambodians were largely uninvolved in the criminal activities.
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