A police raid on a Phnom Penh construction site on Thursday found 139 Chinese nationals working without a permit and 10 others who did not even have passports, an immigration official said on Thursday.
Uk Heisela, chief of investigations at the Interior Ministry’s immigration department, said forces from his department and municipal police raided the site in Chamkar Mon district’s Tonle Bassac commune at about 6 a.m. on Thursday after receiving a tip.
The 139 laborers who were found working without a permit would be fined, Mr. Heisela said.
As for the 10 found without a passport, “we will question them and if they don’t have passports to show, we will ask for permission from the Interior Ministry to expel them from Cambodia,” he said.
The owner of the construction firm, China Construction Fourth Engineering Division, will be fined 3.6 million riel, or about $900, for employing illegal workers, he said.
Mr. Heisela added that 3,187 foreign nationals from 62 countries had been deported from Cambodia so far this year.
