Expelled American Internet pornographer Dan Sandler returned to Cambodia through
Koh Kong on May 5, telling fellow boat passengers that he was fleeing FBI investigators
and political persecution in the United States.
Dan Sandler captured on film en route by sea to Sihanoukville.
Sandler was identified en route to Sihanoukville after he provoked a mid-journey
disturbance by making "offensive" comments about pedophilia and Cambodian
child protection NGOs.
Immigration officers did not impede his entry into the Kingdom, and his whereabouts
are unknown.
Sandler was deported from Cambodia in November 1999 after Minister of Women's Affairs
Mu Sochua filed a complaint about a Cambodia-based web site that Sandler had created
that contained images of violent sexual conduct. Sandler at the time defended his
Internet venture as a means of creating jobs and developing the Kingdom's information
technology industry. Sochua is at present outside the country.
Chanthol Oung, Executive Director of the Cambodian Women's Crisis Center (CWCC),
described news of Sandler's return as "frustrating".
"I'm concerned... since he committed a crime I think he should be banned [from
re-entering Cambodia] so that children and women won't be further exploited by him,"
Oung said.
Police sources contacted by the Post were unaware of Sandler's return and requested
media and public assistance in locating him so that he could be re-deported.
"It's not legal for Dan Sandler to come back [to Cambodia] because immigration
law states that foreigners who are expelled cannot return," said So Vandy, Deputy
Chief of Tourist Police in Phnom Penh.
American Ambassador Kent Weidemann, who assisted Cambodian authorities to facilitate
Sandler's 1999 deportation, was unavailable for comment.
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