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Fifty-four national police and military police officers have been charged with theft and destruction of evidence after conspiring to break into a casino to steal items seized during a scam operation crackdown in Kampot province.
Phnom Penh Municipal deputy prosecutor Plang Sophal said they were charged under several legal provisions for instigating, as accomplices, theft in aggravating circumstances, receiving stolen goods, and destruction of evidence.
The officers were arrested last week after allegedly cutting several locks and entering a casino near the Prek Chak-Vietnam border crossing in an attempt to steal equipment seized as evidence during a raid on the compound belonging to high-profile politically-connected tycoon, Li Kuong, according to Freshnews.
Kuong was nabbed by authorities for allegedly running an online scam following the arrest of US and UK-sanctioned Prince Group founder and CEO Chen Zhi, and over 100 individuals and entities tied to the scams. It is learnt that hundreds in the scam industry have escaped from Cambodia as the government carried out a nationwide crackdown, codenamed “Operation XXL”.
Kampot police identified 32 of the 54 people as national policemen. Among them were provincial deputy police chief Chin Ratana, Kampong Trach district police chief Nhean Sary, and several district and commune police chiefs, deputy police, and officers from a border battalion.
Meoun Tola, executive director of the Center for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights (CENTRAL), opined that online scam operations did not involve only high-ranking police officials at the provincial and district levels but also senior officials at the national level, describing them as part of an “organized crime”.
“I can say this because the evidence shows that some officials were involved and received bribes, allowing online scam operations to spread like mushrooms across the country,” he said.
He added that the sanctions imposed by the US and UK were aimed at some government officials and tycoons allegedly linked to online scam operations in the country.
Kampot police chief Mao Chanmathurith could not be reached for comment.
