Missing list grows

The disappearance of a young woman from a village in Oddar Meanchey province’s Banteay Ampil district has raised fears that she may have fallen victim to trafficking, after three other young women disappeared from the same district along the border with Thailand last year, an official with rights group Adhoc said yesterday.

Leng Ratana, 22, has been missing since January 12 when she was last seen tending cattle near her village, Srey Naren, Adhoc’s provincial co-ordinator said. “I have not completed my investigation, but it looks like she was tricked or trafficked,” he said. Adhoc had received two complaints of women disappearing in the province this year, and three complaints of women disappearing in Banteay Ampil district last year, he said.

Villagers said a car was seen in the area on the day she disappeared, which police suspected she was taken away in.

Banteay Ampil district deputy police chief Then Phat said the woman’s family had reported her missing on January 14.

“So far we have no in-depth information . . . but we are working hard on the case,” he said.

Srey Naren said the woman’s family reported her disappearance to Adhoc and commune and district authorities soon after her disappearance.