Cambodians jump into river to escape forced work on boat

Wed, Jan 19, 2011
The Nation/Asia News Network

Three Cambodian victims of human trafficking jumped into the Chao Phraya River early yesterday to escape from a fishing boat, where they said they were held against their will.

Two people are still missing, but the third filed a police complaint yesterday, which led to the rescue of six others from Cambodia on the boat.

Police boarded the vessel, named Mahatthana or KM Beksa, yesterday morning. It was docked behind Sripitak Frozen Food in Muang district and about to set sail for the Indonesian Sea.

They found six Cambodians allegedly detained on board by captain Phailin Phromsuwan, 44, and his subordinates Thananan Yothachai, 32, and Adichat Saetang, 24.

Group Returns After Fishing Boat Ordeal

Some of the repatriated men following their return (Photo: Ly Meng Huor, RFI)

Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Thursday, 08 July 2010

“He said he spent a few years working as a fisherman and that he had enough money now to buy a car.”

Eight fishermen who had been trafficked on a Thai fishing boat were returned to Cambodia on Tuesday following their arrest off Indian waters.

One of the victims, Nob Chet, 35, said he was happy to be back after his ordeal. He said he was lured onto the boat by an intermediary who promised him more than $100 per month in salary.

The men came from Banteay Meanchey province, where they say a middleman approached them in September 2009 with promises of work for money they could not otherwise make.

The middleman “said the boat would go and come back on the same day,” Nob Chet said on his return at Phnom Penh International Airport Tuesday. “He said he spent a few years working as a fisherman and that he had enough money now to buy a car.”

Soon, the men say, they were caught in a trafficking network, denied their salaries until they jumped ship and were arrested. They were held by Indian authorities for six months and put under surveillance for another three months.

Eventually, some of the men were able to contact their families, who contacted local organizations, said Kim Sovanna, deputy director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ legal department.

“And then we reformed our respective embassy, and we contacted the Indian authorities to settle the matter,” he said.

Police say they are now looking for these traffickers and others, who operate in India, Malaysia, South Korea and Thailand.

Police officer in Sampov Loun Border Gate involved in human trafficking?

26 November 2007
By Sav Yuth
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

An official of a human rights NGO in Battambang province is currently investigating in a trans-border human trafficking case in which it is suspected that a border police officer at the Sampov Loun border gate is the perpetrator of the trafficking.

The investigation took place in the morning of 26 November after a farmer’s family complained that 7 persons were duped by the Sampov Loun border gate police officer who took them to sell as slave workers.

Uth Yes, a farmer from Ta Khiev village, Ampil Pram Doeum commune, Bavil district, Battambang province, claimed on Monday morning that 7 of his sons were duped by Chhit Nhork, a police officer belonging to Brigade 817 at the Sampov Loun border gate, and sold to a Thai merchant since March of this year. Uth Yes didn’t learn about this issue until one of his sons and another person fled and came back to tell him about the story.

Uth Yes said: “My son … was duped. Two of them fled back (from Thailand), he said that they told them to take the boat, but instead they were sold (as slave workers).”

Yin Meng Ly, a coordinator and investigator for the Adhoc human rights organization in Battambang province, said that his organization is currently doing its research on the spot in Sampov Loun district, in order to meet with the two boys who claimed that they fled from the human sale. If the case is factual as the two boys claimed, this is a true slavery case. Nevertheless, Licadho was not able to meet the two boys yet because they went to work as farm laborers in Thailand harvesting corns.

Yin Meng Ly said: “These two boys are very important witnesses in this case, therefore, we must wait for their answers.”

Adhoc indicated that border police officer Chhit Nhork came to round up 7 people from Bavel district, to work as ice lifters in Poipet area since March. However, after it was learnt that the 7 persons were sold by Chhit Nhork to the boss of a sea fishing boat near the border between Thailand and Malaysia, Chhit Nhork fled since then.

The director of the border police brigade unit 817, based at the Sampov Loun border gate, who declined to give out his name, said that Chhit Nhork was indeed a police officer there, but that he did not know anything about the human trafficking case.

Seng Son, the director of the human trafficking police in Battambang province, said that he did not receive the information about this case yet, however, he said that if research proves that this case is true, the perpetrator will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

According to Battambang police, this is the second case involving trans-border human trafficking. In 2006, a boy was similarly sold in Thailand also.