There was quite a bit of movement at Techo International Airport yesterday as Cambodian immigration officials sent 164 Chinese nationals—including one woman—back to China on a chartered flight. The group had previously been detained during various law enforcement crackdowns, and as soon as the General Department of Immigration’s Investigation and Procedure Enforcement Department finished processing their files, they were brought directly to the airport and put on the plane.
The group’s offenses ran the gamut. According to local authorities, some were caught entering the country illegally without valid papers, others were working off the books in rental properties or compounds, and a good number were tied to drug use and illegal online scam operations. Over iced coffees at local street stalls, the sentiment is pretty common these days: if you come here to run scams or mess with drugs, it is only a matter of time before you meet the same fate.
The immigration department processed the final steps right at the airport before clearing out the entire group on the chartered plane. For anyone living around Phnom Penh, the takeaway is hard to miss. It doesn't matter which corner of the country someone tries to hide in—if they get involved in online fraud, drugs, or illegal work and overstays, their time in Cambodia is going to end with a heavily escorted charter flight back home.
