The Interior Ministry’s Anti-Human Trafficking Department yesterday shut down the Khmer Service recruitment firm in Phnom Penh’s Dangkor district, arresting three men suspected of sending workers abroad illegally, according to police and court officials.

Sieng Sok, Phnom Penh Municipal Court deputy prosecutor, said that the three men – Sor Srong, 28, Sor Then, 27, and Taing Iv Ngy, 56 – were questioned by the anti-human trafficking police yesterday.

“The police received complaints from the parents of a victim,” he said, but declined to give details and referred further questions to the police.

Son Tony, Dangkor commune police chief, said that Sok had ordered the firm shuttered because it was unlicensed.

He said the firm had rented a flat without putting up signs outside, but displayed a banner inside the house that read “Legally recruiting workers for Japan”.

“Their office is like in a hiding place, with no sign,” he said. “This company has no licence, so it cannot run.”

Tony said he was not in charge of the case, and declined to comment further.

Chiv Phally, deputy director of the Anti-Human Trafficking Department, declined to comment.

According to a Labour Ministry statement on May 29, there are 77 registered legal recruitment agencies in Cambodia that send workers to Thailand, Malaysia and Japan.