A man allegedly murdered and stuffed into a suitcase by four Chinese suspects last week lived at a compound in Phnom Penh’s Dangkao district where one local resident said “people go in but cannot come out.”
Yi Ming Dali, a 25-year-old Chinese national, was found dead on June 3 in Kandal province’s Ponhea Leu district, according to a Phnom Penh police report published on June 10. Dali’s body was found stuffed in a large suitcase along with another suitcase holding his possessions, around 70 kilometers from the Dangkao district where he lived.
Four suspects were arrested on June 10 in relation to the death, according to the police. Three lived at the same Dangkao compound called Chong Yuan and the fourth suspect lived at a Prince building in Chamkarmon’s Bassac commune. The suspects were identified as Dai Mingxing, Hong Qi, Zhang Xi Yuan, and Li Chen.
The compound Ming Dali lived at was in Dangkao’s Tien commune. Reporters visited the compound this week and found walls topped with barbed wire and an elephant statue at the building’s entrance holding a sign with its tusk that reads “welcome” in Khmer.
A large gate blocking the entrance was staffed by a few security guards. Windows at the building had bars on them and photos from the police report show an inner compound, with a restaurant or food seller visible in the photos.
A local Chinese-language media report about Ming Dali’s death shows photos of his possessions, including an identity card for “Jinbei 1 Property Management.” Jinbei is a casino company based in Sihanoukville and is often cited by trafficking victims as a location where online scams are operated. The casinos are licensed to two companies: Jin Bei Group and Jin Bei.
The victim was also found with three other cards with numbers on them — one from Bolai Casino and the other from Atlantic Entertainment Casino.
A resident who lives near the compound, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of repercussions for speaking to the media, said the compound is a place for “game online.”
He claimed that there were foreigners of many nationalities who work there, including Chinese, Vietnamese, Indian and German workers. Some local villagers worked in the compound, offering cleaning and other services, he said.
But, he generally only saw the “bosses” and Cambodian workers leaving.
“People go in but they cannot come out,” he said.
According to the resident, the land belongs to a government official in the Ministry of Transportation. He saw about 50 police and officials come to the compound on June 10 for the arrest.
“Everyone [in the community] does not want to have it [the compound] here,” he said. “But we cannot ban them because they are connected to the upper class.”
Tien commune chief Sum Rin said the compound was constructed in 2022 and that the landowner is a high level Cambodian official, but did not know his name.
After hearing reports of scams at the compound, the commune chief attempted to enter the premises but was not permitted. Only district police and other officials have been allowed inside, he said.
“The [land] owners I guess are high up state officers because they [officials] do not let us know their names,” he said. “It is not normal.”
Cambodia has seen a proliferation of online scam compounds in the last three years — first thought to be only in the coastal city of Sihanoukville but evidence has since mounted revealing multiple compounds employing potentially tens of thousands of foreign nationals in Bavet, Poipet, Kampot, Phnom Penh and Pursat province.
After months of media reports on scam compounds in Cambodia, the government launched a crackdown on undocumented foreign workers last year and said they were investigating alleged scam operations.
This was likely spurred by Cambodia’s ASEAN neighbors reporting the trafficking of workers into the country and requests for workers to be saved from compounds. Victim testimonies reveal that workers were forced to scam people across the world using various investment or cryptocurrency schemes.
The U.S. State Department also downgraded Cambodia in their trafficking in persons report last July and recommended the Cambodian government increase law enforcement efforts to shut down compounds and prosecute officials complicit in these crimes.
Chou Bun Eng, a Interior Ministry official and vice chairperson of the National Committee for Counter Trafficking, said she was in a meeting and did not answer questions about the case. Khieu Sopheak, spokesperson of the Interior Ministry, could not be reached for comment.
Plang Sophal, spokesperson for the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, San Sokseiha, a Phnom Penh Municipal Police spokesperson, and Dangkao district police chief Choem Sitha could not be reached to comment about the status of the suspects.
Keo Vanthorn, spokesperson of the Immigration Department at the Interior Ministry, said if the suspects are found guilty in court, Cambodian authorities will cooperate with the Chinese government and deport the suspects.
In Kandal province, the two suitcases were found in Ponhea Leu district’s Kampong Luong commune on the banks of the Tonle Sap river.
Bon Channavy, a Peam Chumnik village resident, said she saw a suitcase on the Tonle Sap riverbank while she was out fishing around 8 p.m. on May 31. She returned on June 3, and found worms rising to the surface around the suitcase, now emitting a foul odor. When she opened the bag she saw the body of Ming Dali.
His head was wrapped in a plastic bag and tape. She also found clothing with blood stains, a work photo ID written in Chinese and other belongings.
“I will not go there [to drop off fishing nets] anymore. I don’t dare to ride a motorbike around there” she said, her hands shaking as she spoke. “Even last time I hurried back home from the market because I was scared it would get dark.”
Phal, the Peam Chumnik village chief, said that after the forensic examination took place, the corpse and other evidence was taken away by Phnom Penh Municipal Police.
Phal said he never expected this kind of thing would happen in his village.
“No one likes this kind of case in our village… It is something we did not expect,” he said. “They [the suspects] had a problem over there [in the Dangkao compound], but they dropped [the corpse] here.”
