PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Cambodian police arrested more than 30 Chinese nationals Tuesday in Phnom Penh, charging them with producing adult content, which is illegal in the country.
Ministry of Interior’s Penal Department Lieutenant Colonel Nuon Kimhong told the Khmer Times that the suspects were arrested after a night raid of an apartment building in the capital’s Boeng Keng Kang district, after two Cambodia women allegedly reported being “persuaded by a group of Chinese to produce pornographic videos in exchange for money.”
Other sources, however, said that the police was prompted to action “by the leak of a pornographic film depicting Cambodian women and foreigners engaged in sexual activities, which had been widely shared and commented on on social media.”
“The activities of these foreign suspects have affected the dignity of Cambodians, especially women,” said Secretary of State at the Ministry of Interior Chou Bun Eng. “So we cannot allow this crime, especially human trafficking to happen in Cambodia. For the new government and its Pentagonal Strategy Phase I, we have set the issue of ‘combatting crime’ as a priority task.”
All aspects of producing and distributing pornography are heavily criminalized in Cambodia. A draconian “Law on Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation” was enacted in 2008 punishing all forms of sex work.
Article 39 of the 2008 law mandates penalties of prison time and a fine for the production, distribution of mere possession of any adult content.