Officials Speak Out on Compounds: As Many as 100,000 Foreign Nationals Came to Cambodia

Over the past week, top government officials have spoken in various forums of the human trafficking of foreign workers to Cambodian scam compounds. Though reluctant to call the operations “scams,” largely preferring the term “illegal gambling,” some have given estimates of tens of thousands of foreign workers — one estimate going as high as 100,000 — in Cambodia for the work.

September 23

Interior Ministry secretary of state Sok Phal and Preah Sihanouk governor Kuoch Chamroeun stand outside scam compound Jincai 5 to speak to reporters about a police raid.

Sok Phal: “Through the media, we would like to appeal across the country, firstly, they have to be self-aware to stop this gambling. … We know that they have stopped and a huge number of people have left after they became self-aware. Please stop so that it is not difficult for the victims and authorities, so it is easy. Voluntarily, by themselves, pack up and leave and end the gambling.” “In our estimate, there have been between 80,000 to 100,000 people who have come to serve this work, and if we bring them to keep them we have no space to keep them.”

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