The Phnom Penh Municipal Court had charged 16 Taiwanese men and a Chinese woman with extortion yesterday after their arrest in the capital on Friday, a court official said.

Court clerk Kim Chhengbun said the prosecutor, Sieng Sok, had charged the 17 with extortion after questioning them for several hours and would forward the case to an investigating judge.

The group is suspected of electronic cross-border extortion.

Officers from the Ministry of Interior’s Intelligence Department arrested all 17 on Friday in a raid on a Sen Sok district villa that was rented from the daughter of General Thach Sem.

Police also confiscated 55 desk phones, seven laptops and nine mobile phones, along with a Lexus car.

Nine of the phones and one laptop had been damaged by the suspects in order to eliminate evidence, Ministry of Interior officials said.

The contents of the suspects’ phones and computers needed to be translated before they could be charged, officials told the Post on Sunday.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kim Sarom at [email protected]