The Banteay Meanchey Provincial Court on June 29 placed 10 brokers in pre-trial detention after they were arrested for allegedly smuggling workers into Thailand.

The men were arrested on June 26 in the province’s Poipet town while five workers – four Cambodian and one Thai – were quarantined.

Provincial court spokesman Samrith Sokhon told The Post on June 29 that the brokers were remanded in custody by Investigating Judge Khlok Piseth, who questioned the accused for a full day on June 28.

“They have been charged with illegally smuggling people across the border under Article 11 of the Law on Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation,” Sokhon said.

The men face seven to 15 years in prison if found guilty.

Dy Socheat, deputy provincial police chief in charge of the Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection Bureau, on Jun 29, was not immediately available for comment.

But she was quoted as saying on the National Police website on June 28 that the suspects were arrested and five motorcycles confiscated by the 911 Battalion border police in two separate cases on June 26.

The arrest came after police conducted a search in the town.

According to Socheat, the police also detained four Cambodian men and a Thai man. The five were suspected of trying to enter Thailand illegally on June 28.

They were educated by police and sent into quarantine. The Thai man will be handed over to Thai authorities after quarantine.