Dozens of foreign workers were taken from a central Phnom Penh condominium under heavy police presence and driven straight to the airport on Thursday.
Over the past week, top government officials have spoken in various forums of the human trafficking of foreign workers to scam compounds in Cambodia, some estimating tens of thousands of foreign workers are in the country.
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday acknowledged foreign workers had been lured and trafficked to Cambodia amid ongoing police raids against criminal scam operations that have now reached Siem Reap.
When a boat carrying 41 Chinese nationals sank off the coast of Sihanoukville last week, another boat was nearby carrying two Cambodians, said a provincial official.
Taiwanese prosecutors allege ransom and electric shocks at Cambodian compounds, Malaysian media report a holidayer allegedly kidnapped then sold into scam work, and a Vietnamese newspaper says 10 countries are pressing Cambodia to cooperate on human trafficking.
Authorities met again over the country’s ongoing human trafficking scourge, in a committee headed by National Police and military police bosses Neth Savoeun and Sao Sokha — pledging action regardless of any suspected links to those officials.
Vietnamese officials are seeking more information and urging cooperation from Cambodia after around 40 people, one of whom was found dead in the river, escaped from a Kandal casino and fled across the border.
The government opened the floor to reporters’ questions about foreigners trafficked into the country’s online fraud operations, with officials trying to shift blame, claim ignorance and accuse critics of not understanding the “technical” nature of these cases.
Police are preparing inspections of all foreigners’ accommodations to look for criminality and illegal migrants after the U.S. dropped Cambodia to its lowest rank for human trafficking, Interior Minister Sar Kheng said.
Cambodia has long been flagged for money laundering activity, raising concerns among commentators that rising illicit flows of money could lead to potential repercussions, much like the country’s poor showing in a recent trafficking report.
VOD is an independent media outlet producing radio programs and disseminating information to the public via the Internet.
© 2019 VOD. All Rights Reserved.
