Three Bangladeshi men and 13 Cambodians were arrested yesterday under suspicion of stealing large quantities of clothing from garment factories in the capital in order to sell them overseas, officials said.

Mao Dara, deputy director of the criminal police department in the Ministry of Interior, said yesterday that he had received complaints from garment factory owners claiming that their facilities had been robbed of large amounts of clothing.

“Our police force has been spending a lot of time investigating the case which has led to the arrests,” he said.

Mao Dara confirmed that authorities had confiscated a shipping container full of clothing that the men were allegedly transporting with the aim of exporting the items overseas.

“They were arrested when they were trying to transport the stolen clothes for export to the United States through [Sihanoukville] port,” he said, adding that the suspects had divulged the names of 13 Cambodians later arrested in connection with the theft. Municipal court deputy prosecutor Sok Roeun said that the court had not officially charged the suspects.