After months on the run, AIM SWAT and Phnom Penh Police were able to capture and arrest a man suspected of trafficking 40 men and women to Saudi Arabia last April for labor and sex. All of the victims managed to return home, most commonly thanks to assistance from their families.
The case was brought to our attention by a girl who had escaped a brothel in Saudi Arabia and made her way home. The suspect used his school in Phnom Penh to lure and trick her and the other victims into paying him $2,000 each with the promise of training that would lead to a job in South Korea.
Once he received the payments, the man claimed all the positions were full and offered to instead send them to Saudi Arabia to work in beauty salons and factories. Instead, the women were taken to a massage parlor and forced to have sex with customers while the men were made to distribute fliers on the street.
As victims escaped and came back to Cambodia, the suspect closed down his school before he could be arrested and a manhunt then ensued, lasting several months until his arrest on December 23, 2019. He will await trial for human trafficking-related offenses from jail while our legal team will represent all the victims.