The Cambodian Embassy in Bangkok last week said they could not accept the extradition request of Vietnamese inmates who asked to be moved from Thailand’s prisons to those in the Kingdom, with government spokespersons saying such transfers are “impossible”.

“Recently, there were some Vietnamese inmates requesting for a transfer to the Kingdom’s prisons. In this case, [we] cannot satisfy their request."

“The embassy can only solve requests from Cambodian prisoners,” Long Visalo, the Cambodian Ambassador to Thailand, said in a statement released on Thursday.

General department of prisons spokesperson San Keo said the extradition of Vietnamese prisoners from a third country to Cambodia is “impossible”.

Such transfers had never happened before, he said.

Ministry of Justice spokesman Chin Malin reiterated that prisoner exchange is only possible for Cambodian nationals.

The statement also said that embassy officials regularly visited Cambodian inmates in Thai detention centres.

The Cambodian Embassy previously said there are currently 2,910 nationals in Thai prisons, 269 of whom are women.