23 to be deported from Vietnam in lottery bust

Vietnam will deport 23 Cambodians at month’s end who were busted for operating an illegal lottery in Ho Chi Minh City, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced yesterday.

The 23 hail from Chantrea and Kampong Ro districts in Svay Rieng province. Seven of the suspects are adults, including one pregnant woman, and 16 are underage. They will be returning to their homes through the Bavet international border, without facing any additional punishment.

Ministry spokesman Chum Sounry said Vietnamese authorities had detained the suspects at Vietnam’s Department of Social Affairs before informing the Cambodian consulate to come identify them. The Vietnamese and Cambodian authorities agreed to send them back home.

Sounry said that before this incident, Vietnam had deported only two illegal Cambodian migrants so far this year.

By contrast, Cambodia deported more than 50 Vietnamese migrants before the end of January, according to information from the Immigration Department. During the course of a crackdown on illegal immigrants, Cambodia deported 5,680 people in 2015; more than 4,000 were Vietnamese.

Contact author: Lay Samean

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