Twelve Vietnamese nationals were arrested and temporarily detained on Sunday amid on ongoing crackdown against foreigners living illegally in Cambodia, said Major Seng Veansa, a police officer for the Interior Ministry’s immigration department, yesterday.

According to Veansa, the eight men and four women were found after a raid on a Vietnamese coffee shop on Street 105 in the capital’s Chamkarmon district.

“They were arrested because they stayed and worked without proper documents in Cambodia,” he said.

Hem Theng, head of the immigration department, said the arrests were part of the current ‘foreigner census’ accounting for non-citizens living and working in the Kingdom.

“For those foreigners who are living and working illegally here, we arrest and penalise them at the immigration department before sending them back to their countries.”

Theng added that the campaign had been implemented in 20 provinces and cities out of a planned 25 so far.