As part of a major crackdown following raids on the infamous “China Project”, Preah Sihanouk provincial police are looking for other Chinese-owned casinos or hotels and construction sites used by foreign criminal syndicates in Sihanoukville.

They are particularly focused on finding the sources of weapons seized during a raid on a Chinese-owned casino hotel on Friday during which 14 Chinese nationals were arrested and two countrymen, held against their will, were freed.

The raid on the casino hotel at Ochhoeuteal beach  came  about  after an alleged kidnap and purported rescue as well as a series of  Khmer Times  exposes detailing  China  Project’s  infamous activities.

National Military Police spokesman Brigadier General Eng Hy said yesterday that to provide security and stability for foreign investors and the people in Preah Sihanouk province, the national military police forces in cooperation with provincial police forces as well as other related authorities are strengthening enforcement in province.

He said the authorities now are continuing to search for and inspect Chinese owned-casinos or hotels and buildings under construction in order to crack down on foreign crime rackets and other offences such as drug trafficking, abduction or extortion and illegal online gambling in the province.

He  said  that  military police and police forces will also increase and strengthen their patrols and security in areas in the province.

“The national military police are strengthening security, peace and public order. We are working in collaboration with the police force and other relevant authorities,” Brig Gen Hy told Khmer Times.

“We have opened a 24-hour hotline to receive complaints about victims of these syndicates and we will provide rapid response or intervention,” he added.

He noted that at on Friday, military police forces in collaboration with provincial police forces arrested 13 Chinese men and one Chinese woman for allegedly unlawfully confining their two countrymen for extortion.

He said that after their arrest, police seized seven guns, an amount of bullets as well as other related materials from them.  Military police also rescued the two Chinese victims.

Preah Sihanouk provincial court’s spokesman Huoth Vichetr told Khmer Times yesterday that the 14 Chinese nationals now have been sent into quarantine for 14 days at Preah Sihanouk provincial hospital.

He added that after they complete their quarantine, they will be sent by military police to the court for questioning.

“We are now waiting for them to complete their quarantine and we take further action in accordance with the laws,” he said.

On Friday, heavily-armed Preah Sihanouk provincial military police and police led by provincial prosecutor Seang Sok, took part in the raid after a series of shots were fired at the beachfront hotel cum casino at about 8pm on Thursday evening.

Provincial police reported that criminals fired up to six shots at the raiding party as they fled into a nine-story building located near the beach, later identified as Xihao Ying Casino, located in Village 4, Buon commune in Sihanoukville.

No deaths or injuries were reported.

Seven firearms, including three automatic rifles, several bulletproof vests and other paraphernalia were found and confiscated at the site.

The nine-storey building has the same modus operandi as organisations at The China Project as previously reported by Khmer Times, according to the China-Cambodia Law Enforcement Cooperation Office.

Military police and police raided some rooms in the building and found online and cryptocurrency gambling and scamming activities, phishing, possible cross-boundary and cross-territory trafficking of people, bonded slave labour and sex trafficking.

Among the firearms seized from the 14, some of whom were heavily tattooed, seen as a sign of triad links in China were one AK47 assault rifle and one M4 assault rifle, two K54 handguns, one K59 handgun, one Chinese-made semi-automatic CF98 pistol and another handgun. A vehicle, a black Toyota Alphard was also confiscated.

According to the police report, in this case, the authorities are continuing to search for the mastermind and his accomplices, especially to find those who had supplied the weapons and ammunition. The suspects and exhibits were taken to the Sihanoukville Provincial Military Police Command for further investigation.

“We will continuously share information and provide encouragement to local law enforcement officers in their efforts to rid the coastal province and elsewhere of this menace,” Chinese Ministry of Public Security Task Force Chief had said after the raid.

In the series of exposes, many sources had reached out to this newspaper to report instances of abuse at the hands of enforcers at various locations, particularly one which has 10 high rise structures which are heavily guarded and believed to be housing at least 8,000 people – most of whom are Chinese nationals.

They claimed to have been taken hostage, beaten, starved, isolated, extorted, sexually abused, trafficked and stripped of their basic human dignity.

The victims are alleged to have been forced to scam individuals by creating fraudulent social media and dating application profiles. Often, they responded to fraudulent online job postings and sometimes ended up enticing others to join.

They said they lived under the threat of harassment and were rewarded for converting social media interactions into WhatsApp or WeChat contacts and for convincing people to invest in various scams involving cryptocurrencies and stocks.

The suspect companies are said to be moving to other locations in O’tres, Victory Hill, near the seaport and downtown Sihanoukville. Some are believed to be scouting locations in Battambang province and the capital.

At its peak, The China Project was said to hold up to 12,000 people at a time. One complex, with the 10 high rise buildings was described as a small city within Sihanoukville with banking services, food, convenience shops and even a visa office, frequently used by companies to renew visas for employees.

The Chinese government has formed a special committee with the involvement of more than 40 ministries to combat crimes of this nature which all leads to money laundering on a massive scale.

China-Cambodia Law Enforcement Cooperation Office officials told Khmer Times: “Chinese police and Cambodian police are looking for a way to resolve the problem. It is every police officer’s responsibility to crack down on crimes of this nature which are particularly horrific. Our government has a very strict policy to crack down on such crimes. It is a key task for our police to stop this from occurring and we are cooperating with police internationally.”

It is reported that deaths occur almost every other week at The China Project. Officials have difficulty differentiating murders from suicides. Some corpses have messages written on their arms informing individuals that their death was not a suicide. Others have scratches on their bodies indicating they were made in self-defence.

The majority of the victims and perpetrators are of Chinese origin.

• Tags: China Project, Sihanoukville