A 19-year-old pregnant woman was among five Cambodians slated to return home on Saturday after being illegally trafficked to Malaysia last year to work as maids, the Foreign Affairs Ministry announced in a statement on Friday.
The other women—aged 22 to 40—who were trafficked to Malaysia in September and October told authorities they could not endure the hard work and asked to return home, according to the statement, released by Chum Sounry, a ministry spokesman.
The ministry also announced the repatriation of four other women from Malaysia and China this week.
An employer of the pregnant maid, who was trafficked to Malaysia in October, took her to the Cambodian Embassy on February 6 and asked to send her back to Cambodia because she could no longer work, the ministry statement said.
The five maids were set to arrive at Phnom Penh International Airport early on Saturday morning.
Two other women aged 33 and 22, who traveled to Malaysia on their own to work as masseuses, were flown home to Siem Reap province on Friday, the ministry said.
