Cambodia deports large contingent of Chinese nationals

The Khmer Times reported Thursday that the Cambodian Immigration Police deported 89 Chinese on Wednesday in connection with online gambling and Voice over Internet Protocol extortion scams.

Lieutenant General Uk Heisela, head of investigations with the General Immigration Department, said that those deported included 15 women, and that the deportees were divided into two groups, one travelling to Shenzhen and the other to Guangzhou on Chinese commercial aircrafts.

“They were deported on Chinese commercial flights, but the Chinese authority secured their air tickets,” he said, explaining that the arrests had been a joint initiative by police in China and in Cambodia..

Lt Gen Heiseila revealed that those arrested were accused of posing as Chinese police, judges, prosecutors or bankers in China-targeted telecomm scams and illegal online gambling.

From 2011 to 2017, 1,133 Chinese nationals, including 222 women, were deported to China for offences related to cybercrime.