Nguyen Thi Le (left) and Le Van Danh were arrested on August 20 following our investigations into the fleeing of over 40 Vietnamese people from a casino in Cambodia
Director of An Giang Provincial Police Department, Dinh Van Noi told Dantri/Dtinews on Monday that they had started legal proceedings against a local man and a woman for allegedly trafficking people to Cambodia.
"Nguyen Thi Le, 42, and Le Van Danh, 34, were arrested on August 20 following our investigations into the fleeing of over 40 Vietnamese people from a casino in Cambodia," Noi said. "Initial investigations showed that Le and Danh had sent six among the 42 people to Cambodia."
Le told the police that Danh and she joined the human trafficking ring in May 2022 following an invitation from a man. Danh transported the people to the river bank near the Vietnam-Cambodia border and transferred them to Le who then took them to Cambodia.
Le and Danh were paid VND100,000 (USD 4.35) each for each successfully sent worker. Before six people in this fleeing group, they had sent many others to Cambodia who mostly worked at local casinos.
Authorities in An Giang are further investigating the case.
On August 18, 40 Vietnamese including 35 men and five women were found crossing the Binh Di River in An Giang Province's An Phu District from Cambodia.
The workers fled the casino on August 18. Photo from a clip
The group said that they returned from Casino Rich World in Kaoh Thom District in Cambodia's Kandal Province. They belonged to a group of 42 Vietnamese people who previously illegally crossed the border into Cambodia to seek jobs. Some of them had worked for other casinos before coming to Casino Rich World. Here they were forced to work extra time with no payment, so they decided to flee.
At 9 am on August 18, they gathered and attacked the casino guards and then ran to the river to swim back to Vietnam. Some Vietnamese fishermen saw the fleeing group and rowed their boats to help take them home. However, one was detained by the casino guard and one other, a 16-year-old boy, drowned in the river.
Cambodian Immigration Department spokesperson General Keo Vannthan, told local media on Monday that he had led a team to Golden Phoenix Entertainment Casino in Chrey Thom Commune, Koh Thom District, Kandal Province and detained the manager for questioning, Khmer Times reported.
The inspection resulted in the arrest of the casino manager, a Chinese national whose identity has yet to be revealed.