Former Chief of Anti-Human-Trafficking Police Convicted of Child Trafficking in Cambodia

This is a story that angers me, and makes me wonder how many innocents had to suffer because of this monster using his position of power to manipulate vulnerable people.

IJM Cambodia: Former Chief of Police Convicted of Trafficking Crimes in Historic Ruling

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA – In a landmark case that will echo throughout trafficking rings around the capital city of Cambodia, the former chief of the Phnom Penh Municipal Anti Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection Police was found guilty as an accomplice to aggravated procurement of prostitution. Yesterday, he and three other perpetrators were convicted for trafficking crimes, all sentenced to at least seven years in prison.

The former chief is the first police officer from an anti-trafficking unit to ever be convicted of a trafficking in persons crime. This conviction will serve as a deterrent to others who might seek to profit from or aid traffickers in Cambodia, and it sets a precedent for future convictions against corrupt police officers who are complicit in trafficking crimes.

"It's hard to proceed with a case against a high-ranking police officer in Cambodia, and this verdict is a very positive sign," explains Sarouen Sek, IJM Cambodia's lawyer who represented two of IJM's clients who testified in the trial against the senior-level officer. "These convictions will not only act as a deterrent to others, but also protect many girls and women from exploitation."

"This is an historic conviction in Cambodia," says IJM's Director of Operations in Southeast Asia, Blair Burns. "This man was in a senior position of authority, responsible to protect young women who had been trafficked for sex. And he was instead protecting the owners of the brothels where they were being exploited."

In June 2011, IJM assisted the Cambodian Ministry of Interior's Anti Human Trafficking police to rescue women and girls who had been raped for profit in two brothels, both owned by a network of powerful criminals in Phnom Penh. In the trial, two of the trafficking survivors testified to the exploitation they endured in the brothels. Other police officers also corroborated the trafficking charges against the corrupt former chief of the municipal-level anti-trafficking unit.

An article published in The Phnom Penh Post reported on the trial days before the judgment was delivered. The Post reported that the former chief of the municipal anti-trafficking police would solicit bribes from brothels, alerting them when an anti-trafficking operation was being planned. The presiding judge in the trial said that the former chief "ordered his closest people to collect money for him from a number of brothels for his protection from police crackdowns or arrests."

The brothel owner was present for the trial and has begun serving an 8-year sentence in prison. The former chief of the municipal-level anti-trafficking police and the two others convicted with him were tried and convicted in absentia. The search for their whereabouts continues.

The brave survivors who chose to testify in the trial of the abuse they had endured are now thriving in freedom. IJM social workers have connected both with aftercare services, including trauma-focused counseling. One of the survivors, an adult woman, recently completed a vocational training program with one of IJM's trusted aftercare partners and was hired on to work at the café making high-end cakes and pastries.

These women no longer have to fear the brothel owners or the corrupt officer who helped to perpetuate their violent abuse. Instead, the perpetrators who have been publicly named and declared guilty are the ones fearfully in hiding. Today is a new day in Cambodia.

It disgusts me that sick people keep getting into positions of power, it's almost as if this is part of the plan. Many priests are pedophiles, many police are corrupt and are criminals themselves, now anti-human trafficking officials are trafficking humans. This is absolutely unacceptable. Human traffic is a despicable crime that often involves children who are put through unimaginable horrors.

I hope this guy spills the beans and takes a few of the other sickos down with him!

reply to post by Corruption Exposed


Ah, sweet irony.
It's funny how these sort of "powerful" people never think they're going to get caught.

reply to post by Afterthought


It's gotten to the point where it's normal to expect things like this. There is also a subculture that tries to suppress this widespread problem. There are many evil people among us in positions of trust.

Question every thing.

Also from the article:

The former chief is the first police officer from an anti-trafficking unit to ever be convicted of a trafficking in persons crime. This conviction will serve as a deterrent to others who might seek to profit from or aid traffickers in Cambodia, and it sets a precedent for future convictions against corrupt police officers who are complicit in trafficking crimes.

This POS deserves the worse Cambodia has to offer. From what I hear they're not too lenient when it comes to this kind of thing. Unless the judge is in on it of course

reply to post by Corruption Exposed


I'd heard a long time ago that no foreigner traveling to Cambodia has no business being there unless it's to have sex with a child. It's a real shame that sick people like the man in the article caught a free ride by falling into the job position he did and was able to conduct himself under the guise of "Official Business". I hope he enjoys his stay behind bars.

reply to post by Afterthought


I hope he hates every moment of his stay behind bars, which I hope is for a long time.

This is the ultimate abuse of power

Truly sickening, mere words cannot explain the negative thoughts this puts into my mind. Daily I see stuff like this (and worse) in the news; it really wears on a person's thoughts of humanity.

A part of me wants to believe there is some good out there; a part of me wants to see the love that surely must be in the world. Each day I suppress that part a bit more. Each day I see the world in all of its horror. Another part of me prays for the world to come to an end. That part of me understands that only through total destruction can the evil of mankind vanish.

Raist

reply to post by Raist


There's good out there, but stories like this always remind me that there's a whole lot of bad too.

It almost makes you suspicious of people who seek out power, doesn't it? And it should.

There aren't many Dr. Paul's left...

Originally posted by chasingbrahman
It almost makes you suspicious of people who seek out power, doesn't it? And it should.

There aren't many Dr. Paul's left...

It does make you suspicious, power seekers need to be watched.

May we be blessed with more Dr. Paul's!