Escape from forced labour

Forced labour: Barbed wire fences are seen outside a shuttered Great Wall Park compound where Cambodian authorities recovered evidence of human trafficking, kidnapping and torture during raids on suspected cybercrime compounds in the coastal city of Sihanoukville. — Reuters

PETALING JAYA: Hundreds of workers, including Malaysians, all believed to be victims of human trafficking, illegal confinement and torture, have been rescued by Cambodian authorities from suspected cybercrime compounds across the South-East Asian country in a series of raids.In one such raid at the coastal town of Sihanoukville some 200km from Phnom Penh, a total of 403 people were rescued.

Of the number, 130 Chinese and 11 Vietnamese were found to be illegal immigrants. The other 262 foreigners, which included Malaysians and Taiwanese, were found to be in Cambodia with valid visas but without work permits.

ALSO READ: After son’s death, dad wants other scam victims saved

The 141 illegal immigrants have been sent to the Investigation and Enforcement Department and will be deported. Those without work permits were fined. Authorities said they collected a total of US$110,000 (RM500,000) in fines.

According to the provincial administration’s press release, the compound had three buildings – with up to three floors each – for a total of 332 rooms.

ALSO READ: Special committee on job scams set up

Four pistols, more than 8,000 phones, 804 computers, 36 passports and eight tasers were confiscated in the raid.

Authorities have decided to shut down all businesses in the neighbourhood while investigations continue.

ALSO READ: Get cracking on bringing trafficked victims back home, govt urged

Malaysia has joined countries in the region to heap pressure on Cambodia, which has become a centre of transnational crime rackets that traffic people into the country from across Asia.

These victims are made to work in illegal gambling and scam call centres.

Cambodian officials have for months denied reports of abuses and trafficking, but senior officials including Prime Minister Hun Sen have taken a harder stance in recent weeks amid the heightened media attention, ordering a crackdown on the shadowy scam operators.

Caught in the act: Preah Sihanouk provincial authorities conducting a surprise inspection on buildings located in Village 3 of Sihanoukville’s Commune III in Cambodia.

Similar raids were reported elsewhere through the weekend and into Monday.

Chhay Kim Khoeun, a national police spokesperson, said yesterday that raids were ongoing. The raids are believed to be targeted at not just isolated buildings but also hotels and malls.

The authorities in Sihanoukville said they found evidence of illegal gambling, illegal confinement and torture, prostitution, illegal possession of weapons, money laundering, and human trafficking after a five-day operation targeting just one business.

Malaysian victims of the cybercrime racket, including many skilled workers with tech expertise, have said they were lured into Cambodia through social media advertisements promising high-paying jobs at casinos and hotels, but are then forced by racketeers to live in compounds and defraud strangers across the globe through Internet romance and cryptocurrency scams.

Those who have fled such compounds and reached home in recent months reported they were detained against their will under brutal conditions.

The United Nations human rights envoy to Cambodia, Vitit Muntarbhorn, has said the victims were enduring a “living hell”, sometimes resulting in death.

The victims are being held in maze-like compounds surrounded by high walls and barbed wire, with no contact with the outside world. Sometimes, they are tortured if they fail to meet the racketeers’ targets.

“There have been reports of tragic situations of victims fleeing by jumping from their walled buildings to try to escape,” he said in an article published in the Bangkok Post this month.

Cambodian and Thai authorities have previously said the wider racket is Chinese-run, but have not provided details.

Jeremy Douglas, regional representative for the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, told Reuters the raids were a good start but that the underlying causes needed to be addressed.

“It is fine to move on locations, but if authorities react case-by-case, the groups involved will just jump to new locations,” he said.

Am Sam Ath, deputy director of rights group LICADHO, voiced concern about the growth in human trafficking in Cambodia that was responsible for an influx of illegal immigrants.

“We are very concerned about all forms of trafficking, especially related to online activities. As we have seen in the past, many national and international media outlets have reported on trafficking forced labour and confinement in some of the gambling establishments in Preah Sihanouk and the border provinces,” he said.