Cambodian Journalists Alliance Association

O’Smach Resort, Long Linked to Cyber Scams and Sanctioned by US, Sees Worker Revolt Amid Anti-Trafficking Gaps

Oddar Meanchey police inspect nearly 60 foreigners who fled O’s Smach Resort on January 5, 2025. (Photo courtesy of Meatophoum News/Facebook)
Oddar Meanchey police inspect nearly 60 foreigners who fled O’s Smach Resort on January 5, 2025. (Photo courtesy of Meatophoum News/Facebook)

Nearly 60 foreign workers who revolted against their unidentified Chinese employer at the notorious O’Smach Resort, owned by U.S.-sanctioned L.Y.P. Group and linked to scam operations and trafficked labor, await deportation as authorities show little sign of following the expected procedures in a case emblematic of Cambodia’s illicit scam industry.

Oddar Meanchey deputy police chief Ream Sar confirmed 57 foreigners, mostly Pakistani and Nepali nationals, revolted at O’Smach Resort on Jan. 5. Armed with metal rods, they bypassed security guards in an apparent escape attempt.

“We don’t know what they were doing inside the casino. They said they were working overtime and protested their conditions to the company director,” Sar said. He added that authorities rounded up the foreigners and sent them to the immigration bureau in Siem Reap where their deportation is pending.

According to the official police statement, the foreigners were reportedly employed by a company in Preah Sihanouk Province for 2 to 3 months without pay before being sent to O’Smach Resort. Fearing similar wage issues and facing unrelenting labor, they armed themselves with rods made from bed frames and forced their way out of the resort’s facilities.

The report, nor did Oddar Meanchey law enforcement authorities, clarify the type of work the foreigners did at the resort. 

O’Smach Resort is owned by U.S. sanctioned tycoon and senator Ly Yong Phat and his eponymous L.Y.P. Group which vanished from public records late last year along with 13 other firms tied to him or his family.

O’Smach has been raided more than once in the past three years after reports of forced labor and online scams. The U.S. Treasury Department identified the property as “responsible for or complicit in, or have directly or indirectly engaged in, serious human rights abuses.”

Like many casino and resort enclaves in Cambodia and the region tied to large-scale illicit cybercrime, trafficked victims are often forced into criminal activity at compounds linked to the casinos, according to many investigative organizations such as the United States Institute of Peace and the UN Office of Drugs and Crime. Breakouts and revolts by the forced scammers are well-documented by watchdog groups.

Despite the recent breakout fitting the profile of an industry trafficking over 100,000 people in Cambodia and the record of illict activities at O’Smach, Oddar Meanchey deputy police chief Sar said his department does not intend to investigate further, referring CamboJA News reporters to the immigration police as the investigative authority.

“It isn’t related to our department, please ask the immigration police,” he said. 

Long Sokhun, deputy police chief for Oddar Meanchey’s immigration division, said his department answers to the National Police Commissioner General and will assist in an investigation if requested.

National Police spokesperson Chea Pov, said that officers are investigating the worker revolt and apparent escape from O’Smach. 

“We are investigating, but we cannot give details at this moment,” he said, adding that all 57 of the foreign workers are still being questioned before declining to comment further.

When asked if the National Police’s Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection Department, trained to identify trafficking victims, would screen the dozens of migrant workers still held by immigration authorities, unit director Sok Sambo simply said, “No.”

Ly Yong Phat hung up immediately when a CamboJA reporter identified himself while seeking comment on the recent breakout.

The Pakistan Embassy in Phnom Penh and the non-resident Nepal Embassy in Bangkok did not immediately respond to requests for comment on their nationals involved in the revolt at O’Smach Resort or plans for their repatriation.

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