The China Post
Date: July 20, 2017
By: The Phnom Penh Post/ANN
PHNOM PENH — Taiwanese officials have arrived in Cambodia to push for seven of
Officials raid a network of 31 Chinese and Taiwanese suspected extortionists last week. Taiwan has demanded the seven Taiwanese suspects not be deported to mainland China. (The Phnom Penh Post/ANN)
their nationals — among 31 suspects arrested over a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) scam — to be repatriated to the country instead of China, according to a statement from Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry.
Uk Hai Sela, the head of investigations at the Interior Ministry’s Immigration Department, on Monday denied that any of the 31 people arrested that day over the VoIP scam were Taiwanese, and said that they would all be deported to China once the Chinese government arranged transport.
However, a Chinese-language statement from Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday said it had dispatched officials posted in Vietnam to check on seven of the arrested. Taiwan has not had representation in Cambodia since 1997, when Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered its Phnom Penh offices shuttered.
“After checking with the Cambodian authorities, we found out that seven of the arrested suspects are from our country,” the Tuesday press release said. “Ho Chi Minh City has sent representatives to Cambodia to confirm the identity of the suspects, and provided the necessary assistance.” [FULL STORY]
