Immigration police on Wednesday detained 26 Nigerians living in two rented houses in Phnom Penh on suspicion of being in the country illegally, officials said.
The men were arrested in Pur Senchey district’s Choam Chao commune after local residents, believing the foreigners did not have proper documents, reported them to the Interior Ministry’s immigration department, said Uk Heisela, the department’s chief of investigations.
“We arrested people from Nigeria, but we still don’t know how many are legal and how many are illegal,” he said.
However, Sao Sarith, acting commune police chief, said none of the men had proper papers.
The men, some of whom had worked as football coaches or teachers, were detained at the immigration department and held for questioning, Major General Heisela said, adding they would be deported if they were in Cambodia illegally.
