One hundred and fifty-four Chinese and Vietnamese nationals were questioned by authorities on Wednesday at the Ministry of Interior’s General Department of Immigration following their arrest in Boeung Thom commune in the capital’s Kambol district the previous day for suspicion of illegally crossing the border and working illegally in the Kingdom.
The department’s deputy director Keo Vanthorn on Wednesday said immigration police and local authorities raided a construction site at the Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone and arrested 119 Vietnamese and 35 Chinese nationals.
The Department of Immigration is in the process of questioning the suspects and checking their passports, visas and work permits.
“We are examining their documents and questioning the 154 people. I do not know how many of them have already been questioned and how many have legal documents to show,” said Vanthorn.
Phnom Penh municipal police chief Sar Thet said he was unaware of the details of the ongoing investigation as his officers merely helped the immigration police to carry out the operation.
A report from the Phnom Penh municipal police headquarters said Tith Viseth, the deputy municipal police chief in charge of immigration and Sar Samnang, Thet’s representative, worked with municipal court deputy prosecutor Kuch Kimlong and the General Department of Immigration to inspect the construction site, where the suspects were working.
The suspects’ arms were neither tied nor handcuffed, but they were told to sit in rows before being sent to the ministry, said the report.
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