A Chinese man was arrested by anti-human trafficking police at Phnom Penh International Airport on Thursday as he prepared to board a flight to China with 18 Cambodian men he had organized to work illegally in a garment factory near the Burmese border, police said.
“We accuse him of unlawful removal for cross-border transfer under Article 11 of the human trafficking law,” said Keo Thea, director of the Interior Ministry’s anti-trafficking unit in Phnom Penh.
The crime carries a prison sentence of between seven and 15 years, or from 15 to 20 years if the crime is committed by an “organized group.”
Mr. Thea said that the suspect, Liang Jiasheng, 49, and two accomplices had promised salaries of $350 to the Cambodians, for whom they had prepared passports, flights and tourist visas, which did not permit them to work in China.
“We will send [Mr. Liang] to court tomorrow afternoon and we will ask for an arrest for the other two Chinese nationals,” who have already flown to China, Mr. Thea said.
