Cambodian police reported breaking up an unlawful-confinement and extortion case, rescuing three victims and detaining 11 suspects. The investigation followed a March 30 complaint by a 23-year-old Vietnamese man, who said his 21-year-old girlfriend had been abducted and subjected to extortion in the Wat Phnom area of Phnom Penh’s Daun Penh district early on March 25.
Police said the Criminal Police Department began investigations under instructions from the National Police and worked with Preah Sihanouk police to identify suspects and the confinement site using investigative technology. At 9 p.m. on April 1, officers conducted an operation in Sihanoukville’s second commune, rescued the victims and detained 11 Chinese nationals: ten men and one woman.
Investigators alleged that the group lured women to meetings under the pretext of providing sexual services, then unlawfully confined them and demanded money, and that it had committed similar acts before. All suspects had been transferred to the Criminal Police Department for further investigation and legal proceedings.
