Trafficking Victims Rescued From Malaysia, Indonesia

A Cambodian couple “trafficked” to work in Malaysia returned home Friday morning after being “rescued” by the Cambodian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, a government official said yesterday.

Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said the couple was cheated by a broker and taken to Malaysia in 2012 to work in a factory.

“They arrived back this morning,” he said. “They contacted the embassy for help.”

Mr. Kuong could not recall what the factory was producing, and did not know why the couple had only recently contacted the embassy.

The ministry identified the couple in a press release on Thursday as Am Sophoan, 31, and his wife Phan Nhanh, 30, from Kompong Thom province’s Stung Sen City.

Mr. Kuong added that the Cambodian Embassy in Jakarta also recently rescued two fishermen from a Thai boat trawling Indonesian waters illegally.

“Both of them were trafficked to work on a Thai fishing boat,” he said.

The men, Diek Dorb and Phan Chamroeun, from Siem Reap and Pursat provinces respectively, are due to be returned to Cambodia on March 18, according to the ministry’s press release.

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