Cambodia: 20 arrested for crossing borders to work at an online casino
Police have arrested 20 Thai workers for illegally crossing the border to work at an online casino in Preah Sihanouk province.
Cambodia.- Authorities in Cambodia have arrested 20 illegal Thai workers who crossed the border to work at an online casino. The newspaper Khmer Times was told three Chinese and a Thai man were also arrested for running the illegal gambling website.
General Department of Immigration representative General Keo Vannthan said the department was helping the Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh to send back the 20 Thai workers. Police officers are looking to capture a Cambodian intermediary who carried the Thais into the nation unlawfully.
According to authorities, those arrested were sent for Covid-19 tests and five of them came back positive. Those arrested are reported to have posted on Facebook they had been detained by the online casino owner and that the police had rescued them. The Preah Sihanouk police chief said this was not true.
China and Cambodia renew the agreement on cross border crime
China and Cambodia have renewed their existing cooperation agreement on cross border gambling. China’s Minister of Public Security and Cambodia’s Minister of Interior have agreed to continue tackling cross-border crimes, including illegal online gambling. When the first agreement was signed, in March 2019, Cambodia banned online gambling.
Cambodia’s minister of interior said: “Both sides have agreed to continue promoting law enforcement cooperation to prevent transnational crimes of all kinds, especially organised crimes, online gambling, online money extortion and drug trafficking.”
In September, Cambodian officers arrested 15 Chinese citizens during a raid during a venue in Preah Sihanouk over allegations of cryptocurrency dealing, illegal gambling and other related crimes.
Officers said the arrests were made for illegal gambling activities, cryptocurrency gambling and scamming, phishing and cross-territory trafficking of people, among other crimes.
