Big Trouble in Little China: Nine Loan Sharks Held for Kidnapping, Torture in China’s Cambodian Gambling Hub
Posted on: December 6, 2018, 12:58h.
Last updated on: December 6, 2018, 12:58h.
Authorities in Cambodia have arrested nine Chinese nationals for the alleged kidnap and torture of two gamblers in Sihanoukville, a once sleepy seaside town now booming with Chinese-owned casinos.
Major Sok Kosal of the Sihanouk Province Military Police said the men were loan sharks, according to the Khmer Times.
“They’re part of a Chinese gang who provided loans to gamblers at a casino in Sihanoukville,” said Kosal. “The suspects held two of their countrymen — who owed money due to gambling — and tortured them in order to get the money back from the victims’ families.”
Kosal said the men were arrested after the gang’s rented house in the south of the city was raided by military police officers. Handcuffs, a gun, and two electric batons were retrieved from the building. The victims had been held captive for five days, he added.
Deputy commander of the provincial military police Lieutenant Colonel Cheng Vuthy said the nine suspects are accused of unlawful confinement, cruelty and unauthorized use of a weapon. Each face five years in prison.
The victims were taken to the Chinese embassy in Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital.
Wild East Boom Town
The growth of Sihanoukville over just the last two years — fueled by billions of dollars of Chinese investment — has overwhelmed locals, who are prohibited by law from entering the casinos that are suddenly everywhere in their city.
According to a report by The Guardian, there will be 70 casinos in Sihanoukville by the end of this year. The new gambling venues have brought an influx of Chinese tourists and high-rolling gamblers, while thousands Chinese have arrived to work within the casinos.
It’s estimated that around 20 percent of the city’s population is now Chinese, a segment that has little interaction with the natives.
Triads Descend
There has been a tightening of regulatory controls on the junket industry of Macau in recent years in a bid to drive out organized crime, but Sihanoukville is developing faster than local authorities can draw up regulations, and the country’s authoritarian government is largely just happy to see the money roll in.
Non-existent regulations and lax money-laundering controls are a boon for Chinese gambling operators, but also for organized crime, which has found a new route into the junket industry after being driven out of Macau. This is fueling a rise in the kidnappings of gamblers who can’t pay their debts.
Earlier this year, provincial governor Lt. Gen. Yun Mi complained that the crime rate in Sihanoukville was soaring because of “Chinese mafia [who] disguise themselves to commit various crimes and kidnap Chinese investors … causing insecurity in the province.”
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Last Comment ( 1 )
Sihanoukville - has turned from a beautiful seaside fishing village - with chilled out people - into an absolute mess of a city - would China allow it in China? - I do not think so?! - yet they have come - destroyed a town - built hiddeous buidings - and continue to build - meanwhile the local Khmers have no water - no electric - no roads - and rents rising monthly or with the fear of being evicted or rent increases 3- 4 times what they where paying - The weterners all left - so now the Khmers are left with no interaction with foreigners - because the Chinese eat in their own restaurants - gamble in their own Casinos - and now are running tuk tuk's - barber shops - building companies - delivery services - market stall - curb side gambling machines and of course the dredded Mini van packed with Chinese rushing to the now 120 plus Casinos - why does China not want 100 Casinos in their own town ? yet is happy to turn a small village into the gambling den from hell - a Khmer city - run by the Chinese - why why - Would China allow another race of people to come into China and take of a village and then build what they want to do - disregarding all traditional building styles and throwing up apratments like boxes and sticking lots of lights on them It has been a sad few years living in a place I first visited in 1996 - and not sure how 1 city can support the 200 casinos either built or the planning stage - with the fabric of the village disapearing on a daily basis Neither China or Cambodia has had any respect for Sihanoukville - its residence and especially its enviroment - every last tree is being ripped out - with the Chinese even building a Casino in the National Park - wow its the only national park I know that has been allowed to be bulldozed by the Chinese to build whopping great casinos - with hundreds of rooms - flying over this devistation obviously does not affect the power in country - as said they are happy the money keeps rolling in - but how long will it roll - with the jails full of crooked Chinese - mafia style shoot outs on the street - and enviromental disaster happeing - with worse to come - and the lack of respect for the lakes - and rivers - only time will tell what will happen - but in the mean time - they have filled in so much land and rivers - and lakes - the rains will surly show the Chinese that have been here less than 1 rainy season - what this town is like and how strong mother nature can be - in te meantime a once beautifull village is now nothing more than a poor mans Las Vegas - in the middle of a rubbish dump - that the govenor - or the envirmental or UN seems blind to addressing the situation - as long as the money ckeeps rolling in - and the casinos keep being built - all is good for those at the top - and the one at the bottom will be the town of Sihanoukville - once a royal kings holiday desination - now just a Chinese money laundering city - full of ugly buildings - Akoon