Kampong Cham provincial anti-human trafficking authorities are investigating reports a man may have sold two teenage girls to a nightclub in Thailand.

Officers have circulated the pictures of the missing girls, Pron Theary, 18, and Thoeun Socheat, 15, after their parents, Sat Pron and Sat Phat, respectively, filed a complaint on May 30, accusing an unknown man of selling their daughters to a club across the border, said provincial deputy chief Earm Vanny.

However, it’s unclear at this stage whether the girls have been sold.

According to Vanny, one of the girls, who are from two different families in Sdao commune in Kang Meas district, contacted her parents on Monday night and told them she was safe in Siem Reap province and not to worry. Vanny, however, said the girl – who said that she would find a job in Thailand this week – may have made the phone call under duress.

“At the moment, our authorities are searching and broadcasting the pictures of the both victims to the experts’ office and involved institutions including the border police to intervene and arrest the suspect, so that we can save those victims and bring them home,” she said.