In the first nine months of the year, the Ministry of Interior investigated 147 cases of human trafficking and the sex trade. According to ministry spokesperson Touch Sokhak, 205 suspects were arrested and sent to court.
On October 22, he noted that 19 of the suspects were foreigners, while 37 of the total were female.
Police investigated 55 cases of human trafficking, arresting 79 people, seven of them women. Sokhak noted that 13 of the total number of suspects were foreign, while 200 victims were rescued.
They also busted 92 sex trade cases, arresting 126, 30 of them women. Six foreigners were among those detained, while 283 were rescued.
In total, he added, the authorities freed 483 victims of exploitation.
He explained that during the same period, the ministry worked with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and various domestic and international organisations to repatriate 157 Cambodian citizens, including 36 minors, who were victims of trafficking abroad.
October 15, the Kampong Thom Provincial Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection Police conducted two raids on suspected brothels operating as karaoke parlours named “Chumnou Reakreay” and “Mlob Svay Rotha”, in Damrei Slab village of Taing Kouk district’s Andong Pur commune.
According to Colonel Korng Kouy, deputy provincial police chief, two suspects were arrested, one of them a woman.
The suspects were identified as Kong Saret, 62, owner of Chumnor Reakreay, and Mon Chantha, 41, owner of Mlob Svay Rotha.
The authorities rescued 10 female victims, including 2 minors, from the premises.
Officers have forwarded the cases to the provincial court.
