T WO members of the computer operating staff at the Ministry of Post and Telecommunication

(MPTC) were sacked this month for stealing phone services, MPTC Minister So Kun said.

The two operators, who were not identified, operated the codes of public phones that

serve customers making local or overseas calls.

So Kun said one was working in the MPTC and the other was a Telstra-MPTC controlling

system operator.

He said that the two had worked for many years as operators, but he had evidence

they had been stealing services only recently.

So Kun said the stealing of phone services was a growing problem his ministry was

trying to solve.

Theft of telephone services has cropped up recently at public phones.

One Phnom Penh resident, Seng Hong, said she was attempting to make a call to Canada

from a public phone at the post office, when a teenage boy came up and offered to

help her make a phone call to any country in the world for as long as she wanted

for $10.

"I don't know whether this is legal or illegal, but I wanted a cheap call,"

Hong said.

She said the boy punched in some codes and asked her to punch in the number she was

calling, and then pressed, "send."

She said she gave him $10, talked for a half hour and hung up.