A new border office manned by about 100 soldiers, police and military police officers was established in Ratanakkiri province on Sunday in order to stop people from illegally crossing into Cambodia from Vietnam, officials said Tuesday.
Ratanakkiri military police chief Kim Raksmey said provincial governor Thorng Savun ordered that the new office be set up in O’Yadaw district.
“I sent two military police officers to stand by with the provincial military and police,” he said.
O’Yadaw district has become a hotspot for illegal crossings since October, when waves of Montagnards—an indigenous tribe from Vietnam’s Central Highlands—began streaming across the border to escape persecution at home.
About half of the more than 90 who crossed into Ratanakkiri have been arrested and sent back to Vietnam.
Deputy provincial police chief Heng Rattana said he had sent about four police officers to the new border office, adding that patrols organized from the office would not just target Montagnards.
“We are patrolling not only to stop Montagnards, but to stop all crimes, because people from Vietnam always try to cross the border illegally,” he said.
