Tuesday, 3 August 2010

Raid reportedly nets 35 underage labourers


via Khmer NZ

Tuesday, 03 August 2010 15:03 Meas Sokchea

A POLICE raid on a recruitment firm in Kandal province found 35 girls being trained to work as domestic assistants in Malaysia, officials said
yesterday.

Pa Sam Eth, the police chief in Kien Svay district, said the Sunday raid was triggered after villagers in Prek Eng commune’s Robors Angkanh village reported seeing several girls detained in a building.

“Leaving people like this is an illegal action,” Pa Sam Eth said. “This is an illegal human detention.”

Pa Sam Eth said many of the girls told police they were at least 18 years old. But he said they lacked any proper documentation to prove it.

At the moment, the firm’s owner, a 51-year-old man, has not been charged, Pa Sam Eth said, and police could not say yesterday whether the firm was licensed to train and send workers abroad.

Kien Svay district governor Heng Theam said four people were arrested as part of Sunday’s raid, including the owner.

He suggested that the suspects could be accused of holding an illegal gathering.

“The gathering of crowds like this is illegal because they have not informed the authorities,” Heng Theam said.

Ouk Kimsith, the provincial court prosecutor in Kandal, said the court had yet to charge anyone involved because it was waiting for a police report.

Under the 1995 sub-decree that permits authorised companies to train and send workers abroad, all prospective workers must be at least 18.

No comments: