The Siem Reap Provincial Court on Tuesday charged three Vietnamese nationals with extortion and the production and use of forged documents for allegedly posing as NGO workers to swindle local fishermen out of more than $400 in Siem Reap City’s Chung Khnies commune.
Chao Mao Vyreak, deputy provincial police chief in charge of immigration, said the three men were arrested on Sunday on the shore of the Tonle Sap lake, where they had docked their boat.
“On Friday and Saturday, the three Vietnamese men wore uniforms like officials of an NGO to extort $425 from our Cambodian fishermen,” Mr. Mao Vyreak said, adding the Cambodian fishermen were not doing anything illegal.
Mr. Mao Vyreak said the three men used forged ID cards that identified them as employees of the Cambodia Protects Environment and Human Rights Organization and told the fishermen to pay them in order to avoid being handed over to authorities.
Mr. Mao Vyreak added that he was not sure if the organization was real.
No one answered calls to a number listed for the NGO on the forged documents.
Provincial court prosecutor Koeut Vannareth said Eng Phang, 58; Tran Tung Viet, 48; and Le Dung Loi, 28, were charged with extortion and the use and production of forged documents. “They have already been sent to prison,” he added.
Em Man, Chung Khnies commune chief, said Mr. Phang had extorted money from fishermen in the commune before.
“The Vietnamese man, Eng Phang, he knew a lot of police to protect him when he extorted money many times in the past,” he said.
Prin Savin, chief of the provincial Fisheries Administration cantonment, could not be reached.
