Four Cambodian women working at a garment factory in China have said they want to leave but are trapped there because the employer has taken their passports.

Yin Sophy, 27, said the group were at a factory she called Minan – a company name the Post was unable to independently verify – in southern China, but wanted to leave because two of them had fallen sick.

“I have a stomach ache and my friend Sokunthea, she has a lung disease. We want to go back home but the factory owner did not agree,” she said.

“We decided to stop working right now, but the employer do not agree to give our passports back.”

The girls arrived at the factory in August after paying a Cambodian broker US$300 each, but had received only intermittent work after being promised a regular and high salary, she added.

Yin Sophy identified the other women as Chhuon Sokunthea, 25, Non Sophea, 21, and Yin Sophea, 20.

Joel Preston, a consultant with the Cambodian Legal Education Center, said the women were in Dongguan city, near Guangzhou, in Guongdong province.

“We’re working with UNAIP; we’re going to try and get them back,” he said.

Chiv Phally, deputy director of the anti-human trafficking and juvenile protection department, said he was unaware of the case.

To contact the reporters on this story: Sen David at [email protected]

David Boyle at [email protected]