A job scam ring that targeted Vietnamese seekers of ‘easy jobs that pay well’ in Cambodia was found to be led by Chinese, according to the Vietnamese criminal police agency.

A cross-border operation between police in China’s southern Guangdong province and counterparts in Cambodia have seized 350kg (772lbs) of crystal methamphetamine in a series of raids, shown in recently released footage by Chinese state media.

Seizures of ket in Cambodia hit 2.7 tonnes in 2021, 24 times higher than the year prior, with drug supplies across Southeast Asia skyrocketing.

The significant presence of Chinese criminal syndicates in Southeast Asian countries is turning out to be a major problem for law enforcement and other public agencies in the region.

They are kept under lock and key in security compounds guarded by armed men, and the younger women are threatened with rape if they “fail to perform” while others are beaten up.

More than 50 Malaysians are being held captive in Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand by online scam syndicates, according to the MCA public services and complaints department.

Two victims of criminal syndicates in Cambodia have shared the horrifying conditions they live in while being held under duress there.

Malaysia joins five other Asian countries in raising alarm on forced labor, slavery and torture of foreign nationals.

Police will seek the assistance of Interpol and Aseanapol to track down and rescue Malaysian citizens held under duress by criminal syndicates overseas.

Parents of two youths allegedly being held captive by a Cambodian online scam syndicate are pleading with the authorities to rescue their children.

More than 50 Malaysian youth are being held captive in Cambodia by a syndicate that forces them to scam people online.

Cambodian police say they are ready to coordinate the repatriation of between 2,800 and 3,000 Thai nationals detained after working in illegal online scam operations — some of whom were duped — and are currently being housed in compounds.

The Thai and Cambodian governments will sign a memorandum of understanding soon to crack down on call-centre scammers and operators of online gambling dens, the government spokesman said on Wednesday.

A Thai woman who claimed a Chinese gang stole her blood and attempted to steal her organs in Cambodia has been sentenced to six months in prison with no parole.

Cambodia's anti-drug police have arrested an American national and his Cambodian accomplice for allegedly trafficking almost 43kg of drug, the National Police reported on Saturday.

The Cambodian government has vowed to take action against illegal gambling, kidnapping and other crimes.

The country’s interior minister says he will end the crime wave in Sihanoukville by mid-year.

The 25-year-old woman, identified only as Bee, was among eight Thai nationals — seven women and one man — handed over by Cambodian immigration officials to Thai authorities at the Klong Luek border checkpoint in the Aranyaprathet district of Sa Kaeo province on Wednesday (March 9) evening.

A Thai woman who was rescued from a call centre gang in Cambodia she was lured into working for has recounted the horror of her ordeal including being tortured and later abducted.

A 25-year-old Thai woman from Bangkok, who was lured to work illegally in Cambodia for a call centre, escaped and fell victim to an organ trading gang, has safely returned to Thailand with the help of Thai police.