Crime and law enforcement

An environmental activist in Koh Kong province’s Areng Valley on Monday denied building an ecotourism information center with illegally logged wood after he was summoned to the local court to answer questions over alleged forestry crimes. ...

Local rights group Licadho yesterday praised the government’s plan to release a number of incarcerated women who are pregnant or have their children with them in prison within the next week, but said deeper reforms are needed. In a statement, the NGO said it welcomed an ...

The Cambodian government will provide legal representation to three citizens who were shot at and arrested by Thai soldiers last week while allegedly smuggling drugs across the border. ...

A group of 36 Montagnard asylum seekers who went missing last week after they left their hiding places in the forests of Ratanakkiri province have been arrested and deported back to Vietnam, the U.N. and local villagers said Sunday. ...

An inter-governmental anti-money laundering group has stopped monitoring Cambodia after it said the Kingdom had made “significant progress” toward fighting financial crimes. ...

A group of Siem Reap provincial CNRP officials plan to protest outside the opposition party’s headquarters in Phnom Penh this morning to request that provincial party chief Ke Sovannaroth be ousted due to alleged “irregular spending,” an official said on Sunday. ...

A Turkish man who survived a drive-by shooting in Sihanoukville only to be arrested less than 24 hours later over an earlier stabbing incident was charged by the Preah Sihanouk Provincial Court on Sunday—after which he attempted to flee while still in handcuffs. ...

Phnom Penh anti-human trafficking police prevented an accused sex trafficker from boarding a plane on Saturday along with five women—including a teenager—she was planning to sell into the sex trade in Malaysia, officials said Sunday. ...

Police in Sihanoukville are seeking to arrest a Russian businessman who is wanted in his home country for possession of weapons and explosives as part of a criminal syndicate, according to Interpol. ...

Police in Sihanoukville arrested a Turkish businessman Friday afternoon, less than 24 hours after gunmen fired up to 10 shots at his car from a passing vehicle, leaving a Cambodian man wounded outside Kampongsom City Casino on Thursday night, officials said. ...

Minister for Social Affairs Vong Soth yesterday vowed to cut the amount of children in orphanages by 30 per cent within two years through a joint campaign with NGOs. Dubbed “Keep Families Together”, the initiative, backed by USAID, UNICEF and Friends International, will urge parents to ...

Minister for Social Affairs Vong Soth yesterday vowed to cut the amount of children in orphanages by 30 per cent within two years through a joint campaign with NGOs. Dubbed “Keep Families Together”, the initiative, backed by USAID, UNICEF and Friends International, will urge parents to ...

Prison overcrowding continues to be a major issue plaguing Cambodia, Ministry of Interior officials said on Monday, as they revealed a 3 per cent increase in population at correctional facilities and prisons nationwide. In 2014, the number of prisoners rose from 14,702 in 2013 to 15,165 ...

The number of traffic accidents over Lunar New Year has decreased since last year due to more widespread knowledge of the upcoming traffic law, government officials and road safety experts say. ...

The former director of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, who was ousted last week amid allegations of serious corruption, gave a luxury SUV to his son—a local police official—after it was confiscated from a suspected drug trafficker, the National Police said in a statement Sunday. ...

An immigration official said Sunday that his department would wait for orders before moving to deport environmental activist Alex Gonzalez-Davidson, whose visa the government refused to renew after it expired Friday. ...

Military police in Takeo province last night arrested a military general and close aide of ousted Phnom Penh Municipal Court director Ang Mealaktei, who was officially removed from his position Wednesday amid allegations of vast corruption. ...

Thailand’s army has asked Cambodia “not to jump [to] the conclusion” that its soldiers were to blame for the deaths of three Cambodian loggers who were shot dead earlier this month while searching for rosewood across the border, according to Thai media. ...

Plans to bring the raucous 10-day rave Kazantip to Cambodian shores were in tatters Wednesday as hundreds of Russian revelers showed up at the bridge leading to Koh Puos island to find the way blocked by a 2-meter-high metal barricade. ...

Authorities in Preah Sihanouk province have had yet another change of heart about the notoriously wild Kazantip music festival, pulling the event from Sihanoukville’s Koh Puos island for a second time, with one official citing a desire to dissuade “indecent tourism.” ...

Phnom Penh Municipal Court director Ang Mealaktei was removed from his position on Tuesday pending an investigation into rampant corruption at the court since he became its chief judge less than a year ago. The decision was made public hours after Prime Minister Hun Sen criticized ...

Five men were sentenced to 10 years in prison by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday for selling nearly 1 kilogram of crystal methamphetamine to undercover police officers in the capital’s Tuol Kork district last April. ...

In an unanticipated act of leniency yesterday, Prime Minister Hun Sen established a new committee to deliver pardons to mothers jailed with their children, according to several attendees of the conference where the announcement was made. ...

The appropriate scope of a controversial proposed ban on NGOs “insulting” political parties in election campaigns on Monday continued to divide the CPP and CNRP during talks to amend the nation’s election law, with the negotiating teams deciding to pass the issue on to their ...