A threatening note found on Aug 8 at Afesip’s Phnom Penh Rehabilitation Center has persuaded the anti-trafficking organization to halt some of its activities until police resolve the matter, Afesip officials said Wednesday.
So far, police have reported no suspects, only rumors of a killer contracted to eliminate an unknown number of Afesip’s staff, the officials said.
The note, handwritten in Vietnamese, promised revenge for the arrest of a younger sibling and included the telephone number of an Afesip coordinator.
“You are cruel. So am I. Wait and see who is crueler,” the note read. Those lines were punctuated with a crudely drawn skull and crossbones.
One of Afesip’s main missions is to help facilitate the arrests of pimps who exploit trafficking victims. Since June, its efforts have led to brothel raids in which seven pimps were arrested, Afesip adviser Pierre Legros said.
Legros said his organization, at the urging of the police, had been silent on the matter until now. But as police investigations have been fruitless, Afesip chose to raise the alarm, he said.
“Working against trafficking is working against organized crime,” he said. “We’ve arrived at our limit as an NGO.”
Afesip President Somaly Mam wrote a letter Wednesday to be sent to foreign diplomats, particularly the Vietnamese Embassy.
“Afesip staff have received death threats before. They usually come in the form of phone calls. However, this threat is unique in that someone actually took the step of physically delivering it to the security place at the Phnom Penh Rehabilitation Center.”
And further down: “Afesip itself has stopped all of its investigative activities in the sex sectors and all its missions outside of the city of Phnom Penh for staff security reasons.”
Concerning the municipal police’s report of a hired assassin, “If they know there is a contract, they should know who it is,” Legros said.
“That’s why we call it a rumor,” said Aarti Kapoor, an Afesip legal adviser.
Municipal Police Chief Heng Pov on Wednesday confirmed that he had received Afesip’s complaint a week ago. “The police are doing an investigation, but we expect this case is a personal dispute because of efforts by Afesip and police to arrest mama-sans.”
When asked about a contract killer, he declined to comment further. “When the investigation is finished, I can talk,” he said.
(Additional reporting by Saing Soenthrith)
