Municipal Immigration Police arrested five Chinese nationals in a Phnom Penh hotel Thursday morning for allegedly entering Cambodia without passports or entry visas.
The five were arrested when police acting on a tip searched rooms on the fifth floor of The Queen Hotel on Street 214 in the Daun Penh district of the city, Immigration Police Chief Pol Pithey said Thursday.
According to Pol Pithey, the five Chinese men say they have passports, but were unable to produce them.
“Although they say they have passports, we need evidence. We will report this incident to the Chinese Embassy,” Pol Pithey said, adding the five will be held at Immigration Police headquarters.
The arrest of the five comes almost one year after a high-profile crackdown by Phnom Penh Governor Chea Sophara on a massive Chinese immigrant smuggling network which resulted in the arrest and deportation of over 600 Chinese nationals. Illegal Chinese immigrants allegedly trying to get to Western countries were found in rented villas and hotels throughout Phnom Penh and Kandal province.
Although a high-level Ministry of Interior committee was set up to investigate allegations the well-organized smuggling operation was supported by a senior police official and a Cambodian diplomat, no arrests have been made in the investigation.
Teng Savong, deputy director general of National Police and head of the special committee set up to investigate the smuggling operation, said Thursday the investigation is continuing.
“We are still researching, but have some internal problems [with the investigation],” said Teng Savong, who declined to elaborate.
Chea Sophara denied Thursday’s arrests point to a resurgence in the large-scale Chinese human smuggling operation, but admitted that smaller groups of Chinese still pass through Cambodia on their way to other countries. “Some illegal Chinese nationals are still sneaking into Cambodia. But only in a small way. If we compare this to the situation in the past, it has decreased,” Chea Sophara said.
“We will catch them and send them back to their own country like before. We are not quiet on this issue.”
