TWO Taiwanese nationals and six Cambodians have been arrested in another trafficking

case after an August 30 raid on a Phnom Penh hotel.

Chen Hsi Chou, the owner of the Eng Hui Karaoke on Street 271 in Phnom Penh and fellow

Taiwanese Lu Fa Chai were arrested at the Beauty Inn Hotel in the presence of 20

women who police suspect were destined to be sent to Taiwan as sex workers under

the guise of marrying Taiwanese men.

"We've arrested them on suspicion of human trafficking because they'd organized

a system that had buyers, sellers and middlemen." Rean Vicheat told reporters

at a press conference on Aug 31 at Phnom Penh Tourist Police Headquarters. "Some

Taiwanese [who arrange to marry Cambodian women] actually are good husbands, but

some are human traffickers who sell the women into prostitution in Taiwan."

Six Cambodian women were presented to reporters as "procurers" who had

been hired by Lu and Chen to recruit the 20 women from the provinces on the understanding

that they'd arrange for them to be married to Taiwanese men.

Yim Po, the Executive Director of the Cambodian Center for the Protection of Children's

Rights, told the Post that Taiwanese sexual trafficking under the guise of arranged

marriages had been a matter of concern for women and child protection advocates for

the past three years.

"We've been aware of Taiwanese using false marriages to trick Cambodian women

into prostitution," Po said. "We are aware of at least 50 women in the

past year who've been trafficked to Taiwan in this manner."

Chen told the Post that he had done nothing wrong and that his mistake had been "a

mistake", while Lu said only that he was "a tourist".

Chen's landlord, Chin Thophot, told the Post that Chen ran the Eng Hui Karaoke Club

in partnership with Duong Eng, a military policeman and that the charges against

Chen were possibly connected to an extortion attempt by local police officials.