National Police chief Neth Savoeun on Monday called on anti-human trafficking police to step up their monitoring of such common sex-trade fronts as massage parlours, karaoke establishments, coffee shops and hairdressers.

Speaking at a meeting of the National Committee for Counter-Trafficking, Savoeun reminded officers that they had an “obligation to crack down and rescue the victims of trafficking, labour exploitation and the sex trade”, a post on the National Police website says.

The police also rolled out figures for the first half of 2015, saying they had rescued 134 people from the sex trade and arrested 70 suspected traffickers.

Lim Mony, head of the women’s section of Adhoc, yesterday praised anti-trafficking authorities for improving their efforts, but said she remained concerned that those at the top of trafficking rings seldom saw justice.

“We found that, for the raids against the small fish of . . . the sex trade, the police have done a better job, but the big fish remain at large,” said Mony, adding that a higher budget for investigations may see Cambodia’s counter-trafficking ranking improve.