A Phnom Penh bar owner was arrested on Monday with eight of his female employees and was accused of human trafficking, a court clerk said Tuesday.
According to court documents, French citizen Gerard Claude Dubois and his staff were taken into custody by the police anti-human trafficking unit.
The suspects were held for questioning through Tuesday, Municipal Court clerk Huot Chhuor said.
Policeman Keo Thear said that police began investigating Dubois and his small shop and bar in Wat Phnom commune, Daun Penh district, after a female employee told authorities that the French national was forcing his staff members to have sex with customers.
During a search of his establishment, police confiscated sexual paraphernalia and a pistol, Keo Thear said.
On Tuesday, while being interrogated by anti-trafficking police, five of the eight women taken into custody with Dubois said that he required them to perform sexual acts with the bar’s clientele, Keo Thear said.
He added that Dubois denied all of the accusations made against him.
Dubois will be detained by police until a hearing later this week, Keo Thear said, and his employees will remain under police protection until they testify in court.
