Twenty-five Japanese nationals were deported on Wednesday for allegedly running a phone scam in Cambodia.
The group was arrested in September by the national police who raided DBLY Tower in Chroy Changva district where they were found to be running an online scam.
General Department of Immigration Police spokesperson Keo Vanthan confirmed that the 25 Japanese men left Cambodia around 2pm from the Phnom Penh International Airport.
“We implemented the extradition [order] following a decision by the Interior Ministry,” he said.
Vanthan thanked the Japanese embassy for providing information on their citizens, who had been residing in Cambodia.
“[We] appeal to foreign embassies to continue cooperating in providing information to our police in order to prevent and [help] crack down [such operations],” Vanthan said.
Operations director Am Sam Ath of rights group Licadho called on the police to strengthen law enforcement to stop online scams.
In the last few years, Cambodia has been criticized internationally for alleged human trafficking incidents and online scams which occurred nationwide.
“Online fraud is a new technology that requires our police to have more training. In addition, law enforcement is still limited [there’s a gap].
“When many cases [offenses] are published, it will impact the reputation of Cambodia. It also jeopardizes the safety of the public, including foreign tourists,” Sam Ath said.
According to a report by UN Human Rights in September, about 100,000 people have been forced to carry out online scams in Cambodia. When contacted, National Police spokesperson Chhay Kim Khoeun declined to provide further details about the case.
