PHNOM Penh Municipal Court this week filed human trafficking charges against a 40-year-old man and a 27-year-old woman who allegedly charged clients US$2,500 for sex with virgin girls, a human trafficking official said Wednesday.

Keo Thea, head of the municipal anti-human trafficking and juvenile protection bureau, said Bou Ty and the woman, whose name he could not provide, were arrested late last week at a guesthouse in Tuol Kork district.

“We arrested the pair as they were preparing to bring one virgin girl and three prostitutes for customers at the guesthouse,” Keo Thea said.

“We were told that for the virgin girls [customers] would pay $2,500,” he said.

He added that clients of the pair were charged $1,000 if they opted to take a non-virgin prostitute with them to the provinces for periods of up to three days.

Under Article 3 of the Law on the Suppression of Human Trafficking, perpetrators of human trafficking face prison sentences of between 10 and 15 years. When the victim is younger than 15, the sentence range is from 15 to 20 years.

Keo Thea said Wednesday that a court date had not yet been set.