A Khmer New Year Story

Our maid, Mean-Ta, was robbed today, in the ordinary fashion. She was riding pillion on a motodup (motorcycle taxi) when a couple of young guys on a passing moto ripped her bags from her shoulder. She probably appeared an easy mark – a small 50-year-old woman, alone, exposed and overloaded. No match for a couple of 20-something thugs on a faster bike. Pulled off with the bags she fell from the motodup, banging her up a bit, mostly bruises and road rash. The robbers escaped with her goods. Not an unusual occurrence here in Phnom Penh, especially in the days and weeks before Khmer New Year (i.e. Chhaul Chhnam Thmey) when robberies and other petty crimes spike as unscrupulous sorts try to put together some holiday coin for their New Year’s festivities. It’s still National Robbery Month here in Cambodia.

Pissed me off something fierce when I heard the story. Like most Khmers, she planned to travel to her native province for the New Year to be with family. She was heading off to begin her holiday when it happened – on her way to the bus station to make the trip home to Battambang. I didn’t see her this morning before she left, but when I got back to my office this afternoon, there she was, bloodied and crying, her clothes torn, her remaining bag smashed and wet from something that had broken in the fall. Two of the staff were tending to her, trying to calm her. Truly a pitiful sight. The thought of a couple of young city boys, probably middle classers or better, targeting a 50 year old country woman for her meager belongings just infuriated me. Perhaps even more upsetting, mostly because I saw how disappointed she was, this was her New Year in tatters.

She had been saving for her trip home for at least the last 2 months. A couple of days ago she took an advance on next month’s pay and I had given her an additional $150 New Year bonus. She spent the last two days preparing, buying a new outfit and bag, as well as some presents for the family. Almost all of the money and most of the belongings were lost or ruined in the robbery. 

But, in the spirit of the season, the situation took a heartening turn. Most of the staff was still here at the office when she stumbled in after the robbery - 12 people, all Cambodians, everybody due to leave on their own New Year holidays at day's end. On hearing the story, people spontaneously started chipping in money for her. A impromptu collection arose in the office. Everybody contributed without hesitation. As the story spread, even the cyclo driver and motodups that sit near the office tossed what they could afford into the pot. I Twittered about the robbery shortly after hearing the story, primarily out of frustration and as a warning about pre-New Year street crime. Again, without prompting or request, local barang Tweeps offered money to help her. It was all an amazing outpouring of sympathy and generosity.

As I understand it, the spirit of the second day of Khmer New Year (Virak Wanabat) is expressed in generosity and giving to those less fortunate than oneself. I saw that spirit manifest today (if a couple of days early) in the swift and unreserved support shown this woman. Perhaps, amongst good people, they would have responded that way at any time of year, but it seemed particularly appropriate to this time.

Calmed briefly after the robbery, Ta was soon in tears again, but this time for being overwhelmed by the flood of help she was receiving. Most of her lost money was replaced. Her thanks were profuse and animated (a bit uncomfortably so.) She told me to say "thank you" and "happiness" and "Happy New Year" (and more) to all who helped and offered kind words. By late afternoon she had collected herself and the staff was readying to escort her back to the bus station to catch an evening bus. I bowed out at that point. I understand that she made it onto the bus without further problem. She should be in Battambang by now, probably in her village, home with her family for the holiday.

When safe sex isn’t

According to Cambodia Daily reports of recent prostitution busts in Phnom Penh, the Cambodian police are using the presence/possession of condoms as evidence of prostitution and as a basis for arresting the people involved.* For example, in ‘Police Raid Parlor Alleged to Provide Sex Services’ (Cambodia Daily, March 14, 2012,) police reportedly stated that, in addition to other evidence, “…used condoms showed the massage place is 100% providing sex services.” The women from that bust were taken by the police for “education” (i.e. possibly sent to one of Cambodia’s notorious ‘rehabilitation centers’) and the parlor owners were arrested.

While I understand, from a law enforcement perspective, why the police would want to use condoms as evidence, this practice clearly runs contrary to this interests of community health and the health and safety of individuals involved in the sex trade. It creates a situation in which sex workers and brothel owners must choose between possessing condoms/risking arrest and eschewing condoms/risking sexual disease. It makes safe sex unsafe (at least legally) and incentivizes sex workers to forgo condoms.

This is particularly frustrating in light of Cambodia’s hard-fought battle against high HIV infection rates. Due in part to efforts by NGOs and government to encourage condom use amongst sex workers, the country’s comparatively high HIV rates have been significantly reduced over the last decade. While the recent crackdown on brothels has negatively impacted this effort in several ways, it has been largely indirect, e.g. forcing prostitutes out of brothels and onto the streets has made them less accessible to the NGOs that provide condoms and safe sex education, and also made them more vulnerable to customer pressure not use condoms.

The practice of using condoms as criminal evidence represents a much more present and direct threat to condom use and safe sex. It amounts to the de facto criminalization of condoms, actively discouraging condom use amongst sex workers. In terms of community health, it is a step backwards, working to undo efforts to reduce the spread of HIV and STDs. And in so far as the anti-trafficking/prostitution laws are intended to protect the women involved, it acts to the contrary, putting their health and safety at greater risk.

Time to end this practice.

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(* Cambodia is not alone in this practice. 'The Policy That Keeps Prostitutes From Carrying and Using Condoms' addresses a similar policy in New York.)

See also:
Cambodia: Sex workers, 100% condom use and human rights
Off the Streets: Arbitrary Detention and Other Abuses against Sex Workers in Cambodia 
Cambodia HIV and Aids treatment programmes threatened
AIDS on Stamps

Riverfront Scammers and the Filipino Blackjack Con

It’s the beginning of the high tourism season in Cambodia. The tourists are back, and so are the scammers that prey on them, especially in tourist zones like the riverfront in Phnom Penh. Actually, the scammers never left, but in my forays up the riverfront these last couple of weeks they seem to be out in numbers and working hard, chasing the fresh crop of newbies in Cambodia. Day before yesterday in front of the Royal Palace I almost got a photo of three different scammers in the same shot, but they saw me raise my camera and scattered.

There are of course the professional beggars that pester tourists as they try to have a meal on the riverfront, but they are more of an annoyance than scammer. There are also more insidious forms of this, such as the women (and sometime children) that carry around rented and drugged infants as sympathy props and child beggars that have been put on the street to work. All this is fairly well known.

Then there are the foreign scammers. ‘Wild Turkey Man’ (a.k.a. the Australian beggar) is probably the best known and longest ‘working’ of the group. He and at least one or two other foreigners are running the same scam on the riverfront, a rather old one in fact, often used on the traveler’s trail. He approaches you and spins a tale about how he’s a tourist who has lost or had his passport and money stolen, the embassy requires him to pay for a new one, or is making him wait, leaving him penniless and on the street, or he needs a bus ticket to Siem Reap to pick it up, etc., etc. The tale ends predictably, with a plea for financial help, “just a dollar, maybe a few…” Leaving aside issues of honesty and such, the biggest problem I have with these sorts of foreign ne’er-do-wells is that while they are scamming tourists for beer money they are also competing with poverty-stricken third-worlders for the limited pity dollars that flow in the tourist areas.  

But it wasn’t the usual suspects that inspired this post. It was the appearance of a comparatively new and potentially much more dangerous group of tourist scammers in Cambodia – what’s become known as the ‘Filipino Mafia’ or ‘Filipino Blackjack Con.’ One of these guys tried to work me the other day in front of the National Museum, and it wasn’t an hour later that a tuk-tuk driver was complaining to me (unprompted) that a tourist couple he had been ferrying around had to cut their Cambodia holiday short for having fallen prey to “Filipino sharks.” He claims that there are several of these scammers working in Phnom Penh and that he and other tuk-tuks have complained to the police, who have as yet done nothing about it.

The Filipino scammers have been running this con for years in Vietnam and their doings in Ho Chi Minh City have been well documented by Adam Bray on his website Fish Egg Tree. Even the well-experienced Vagabond Traveler was taken for a ride by these guys in Saigon.

I first noticed them here in Phnom Penh about a year ago. While walking past the Royal Palace I was approached by a friendly Asian couple – a man in his 50s and a woman in her 30s in casual dress. They began by complimenting my hat and asked where I got it. This led to more friendly conversation, and more praise and interest in my knowledge, appearance and country. They claimed to be Malaysians living in Australia. When they found out that I was a long-term expat they ended the conversation politely but quickly. I was immediately suspicious. It may sound cynical, but while somebody may stop to ask directions or perhaps try to sell you something, nobody starts extended conversations with passing strangers for no particular reason. I didn’t know what the game was at the time, but something was definitely fishy.

Three weeks later the same couple approached me in the same spot in almost the same way, but this time it was my beard they liked. They had forgotten me from before. They claimed to be half-Khmer/half-Malaysian visiting family in Cambodia. Again, they showed glowing interest in my country, my travels, my family and my experiences as a tourist in Cambodia. All 'feel good' stuff, appealing to my vanity and sense of openness as a traveler. Again, they ended the conversation when they learned I was a long-termer. I still didn’t know what they were up to but it was clearly no-good. I saw them a few times after that, walking the same area, but they didn’t approach me again.

It was shortly thereafter I learned about the ‘Filipino Blackjack scam’ being run in Saigon and heard that the same scammers had been seen in Phnom Penh. I put 2 and 2 together.

About a month ago in front of the National Museum here in Phnom Penh another couple approached me in the same way – different people, same general description, same sort of conversation except this time they started by complimenting me on my handsome backpack. Like the others, they spoke English well and with a non-Khmer accent. Unlike previous encounters, I changed my story and said I was a tourist. The conversation ran much longer. They expressed great interest in learning more about my country and invited me to join them for an authentic Khmer meal, a cultural exchange of sorts. I already knew enough, begged off and walked away. Whatever was to happen next, it was going to be some sort of an attempt to lead me into a situation over which I had no control and then separate me from my money.

Over the last month I have spotted the male half of the couple several times working tourists on the Sothearos Blvd sidewalk in front of the National Museum in Phnom Penh. Twice in the last two weeks, apparently forgetting that they have already done this to me several times, he approached me with the same lame sort of compliment/question they use every time. Day before yesterday it was my sunglasses he liked. “Very nice sunglasses. Did you buy those here?…”

They have been seen in several places in Phnom Penh including other parts of the riverfront, at Sorya Mall, in the park next to Wat Botom and in front of the Central Market (Phsar Thmey.) There are also recent reports that they are working in Siem Reap as well.

No need to detail the rest of their scam – how they manipulate you into a compromised situation, how you get into a card game you never thought you’d enter, how you lose money you never thought you’d bet, how it can amount to hundreds or even thousands of dollars, how they pressure, threaten, even drug you afterwards. They are slick and they are professionals and if you start to walk down the rosy path with them, they will get you there. The details of the scam have already been well covered by Fish Egg Tree and Vagabond Traveler.

You only need to know that THE FILIPINO SCAMMERS ARE HERE IN CAMBODIA, that they are targeting tourists, and to follow the advice that your Mom gave you when you were young...

BEWARE of friendly strangers.

Criminal Logic

Purportedly an Angkorian era lintel from Baphuon temple that the author of the article ("Taking Home a Piece of Angkor Wat") was considering buying from an antiquities dealer in Bangkok, Thailand. Photo lifted from the article "Taking Home a Piece of Angkor Wat"

Your television has been stolen from your living room. The thief sells it to a fence, who puts the word on the street that he's got a nice big-screen plasma for sale. Prospective buyers, Joe Suburbia and his wife, hear about the TV and would really like to buy it, but they also know it is of dubious origin and, considering themselves to be a 'good people,' feel conflicted, if only a bit. The fence offers some soul soothing logic…

"Well, who really 'owns' stuff, so to speak? I mean, his Dad gave him that TV, so it's not really his anyways. Besides, why should he be the only one to get to enjoy it? Why shouldn't we be able to move that TV to your house where you and your friends can enjoy it? And on top of that, he didn't even take very good care of it, so doesn't that mean it's not really his?" 

Persuaded, the prospective buyers wipe their brows in relief and say, "So, how much do you want for it…" 

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Do you accept the fence's logic? Does it matter that your Dad gave you the TV or that you don't take good care of it? Are Joe and his wife right to buy your stolen TV?

I would answer no, no and no. The fence's logic is a weak and obvious rationalization for theft. Who gave you the TV or how well you took care of it have no bearing on your ownership of it. And Joe and his wife are not only receiving stolen goods but doing so knowingly, as evidenced in part by the fact that they would entertain such specious and self-serving logic. 

In fact, the logic seems so weak as to be unrealistic. Would anybody really offer such a transparent rationalization for buying stolen goods? Well, in an attempt to justify buying Angkorian-era Khmer antiquities in Bangkok, the following blog entry comes very close.

In an entry shamelessly entitled, "Taking Home a Piece of Angkor Wat," the writer explores the "gray area" of buying stolen antiquities:

"Who owns cultural relics from generations or millennia ago?  Just because people were born within the modern borders that a historical sight sits, why do they have the ownership right?  Why should cultural relics stay in a place rather than cross borders and share their beauty with people that can’t make it to their original location?  At what point of destruction or lack of care does a culture relinquish it’s (sic) ownership right?"

Somewhat general questions. We might at first imagine that he is exploring the issue in abstract or perhaps some borderline or potentially debatable case such as some antiquity of unknown origin or something that is comparatively common like Roman coins or cuneiform tablets. But no. In the following paragraph he almost immediately identifies the piece he is considering buying - a lintel from the Baphuon temple in the heart of Angkor Thom (see photo above) - a specific, unique, irreplaceable piece from one of the most important temples in the center of the old Angkorian capital in Cambodia. It would be difficult to imagine how such a piece (if authentic) was not looted.

From there his concerns turn to the pragmatic - the authenticity of the piece, how to skirt US import law and finally, the price, which turns out to be the determining factor in his decision of whether to purchase it or not.

He does pause in the next paragraph to touch on the ethical questions he posited, if only abstractly and in brief. But it seems to me this surfacy address is little more than a half-hearted exercise in self-absolution. The beginning and end of the article reveal the author's real feeling on the subject. The opening paragraph is a giddy account of what can be had in Bangkok for a price, everything from "endangered animals" to "ill-gotten antiques." And in his final words of the essay he decides against buying the artifact, not because of the ethical considerations but because it is too expensive:

"Upon arriving, excited and scared, to purchase our piece of the Angkor Kingdom we received bad news.  The price we had been quoted was incorrect by one zero.  Previously it was very expensive, but attainable, but now it was just too expensive.  The lessons we learned in the process though, were worth it, without finding a piece we loved, doing the research, debating among ourselves, and deciding, we wouldn’t have had the opportunity to think through the right, wrong and grey area of being a tomb raider."

The last sentence sums it up nicely - a straightforward admission of what he is trying to justify - "…being a tomb raider," i.e. a thief. 

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For more see:

It Surfaced Down Under!: Reprehensible

Safe Corner: The ethics of "tomb raiding?"

Allison in Cambodia: Taking home a piece of Angkor is NOT OK

Red List of Cambodian Antiquities at Risk

Wikipedia: Baphuon

BBC: Cambodia completes Angkor temple renovation 'puzzle'

Heritage Watch

Be careful out there

Tuk-tuk outfitted with anti-bag snatching netting

Two weeks left.

Every year at this time, in the weeks before Khmer New Year, there is a spate of petty crime against foreigners in Cambodia as some less than honest locals try to collect some coin to finance their planned New Year festivities. There will be shakedowns, moto-thefts and muggings, bag snatchings, bar raids and a few break-ins. Not that these sorts of things don't happen throughout the year but such crimes spike in these weeks leading up to Khmer New Year. Like the shopping season before Christmas, this is crime season in Cambodia.

To be up front, I don't have any statistics to back this up, not that there are any reliable crime statistics available anyway, but the anecdotal evidence is overwhelming and accords quite well with my casual observation over the years. And if you mention a tale of a recent robbery or some such crime to a long-term expat, he will likely just shrug his shoulders and mutter "Khmer New Year."

'Tis the season to be careful.

On that note, a few quick tips…

- Bag snatching is not uncommon. When in a tuk-tuk place your bag in the middle of the seat or floor. Do not put it to the outside at the end of the seat where it is easily grabbed. When on a motodup, place your bag either between you and the driver or have the driver set it in front of him between his legs. Whatever you do, do not wear it on your back. More than one foreigner has been pulled off of a moving moto by a thief trying to pull the bag off their back. When on foot, carry your bag/camera on your inside shoulder away from the street. And lastly, do not wear expensive jewelry around your neck if you plan on walking around, especially near the traditional markets.

- Street robberies in Phnom Penh, though not common, are reported with some regularity. Most occur at night, near popular tourist destinations and expat areas, and almost always happen to people on a motorcycle/motodup, in a tuk-tuk or on foot. The robbers are sometimes armed with a handgun and usually only want money. Though there have been some unprovoked assaults, they generally avoid applying violence, but will if challenged. Give up your money and they will likely leave post haste.

- Consider traveling about town in a car, especially at night, whether that be a taxi or your own vehicle. You are far less visible, exposed and vulnerable in a car than in a tuk-tuk or on a moto.

- Muggers work areas frequented by foreigners - the riverfront area, Boeung Keng Kang 1, the Street 51 area, near markets and clubs and other tourist haunts. They lay in wait at the periphery of these areas looking for passing or lone foreigners. You are much more likely to be robbed in these areas than in some dark, lonely all-Khmer neighborhood deep in Phnom Penh. Whereas foreigners tend to let down their guard in tourist areas, it is in fact a place to be extra cautious.

- Sadly, muggers seem to target women more than men. Women need be especially careful.

- Do not dawdle at the gate. Over and over again people have been robbed at the point they arrive home and stop to open their door or gate. The robbers descend while you fumble with your keys or wait on an exposed moto or tuk-tuk for the door to open. Best strategy is to have somebody inside the house (maid, guard, family) open the gate as you arrive. Call home as you leave the bar, tell them you'll be there soon so that they can open the gate as arrive and allow you walk or drive in without ever stopping.

- Pick-pocketing is generally limited to the traditional markets and occasionally discos and clubs. They target both locals and foreigners. It's done in usual fashion, taking advantage of close situations, crowding and such. Tourists often fall victim to seemingly friendly beggar children, allowing them too close, only to have their purse or pocket relieved of its contents while distracted. I have heard several such reports from Phsar Tuol Thom Poung (the Russian Market.) And at the clubs, as the t-shirt reads, "Beware of pickpockets and loose women." 'Nuff said there. Keep your radar up when in close situations. Do not allow people, especially 'innocent' beggar children, to touch you.

- Home owners and renters remember, the thieves rarely come through the front door. They come from above. People usually take great care to make sure the ground floor of their house is well locked and secure. But the thieves often come from the roof or upper windows, climbing walls and traversing roofs to access some weakly locked upper door or window, or cut through unsecured fenced openings. Don't neglect to lock the upstairs doors and windows. Another common trick is for them to use a long stick with a hook to fish your belongings through an open window. When possible, keep windows closed and locked. And do not leave you’re your wallet, phone or purse on a table or draped over a chair near a window.

Two weeks left. Khmer New Year will fall April 14-16. That week, many businesses will close and Phnom Penh will become a ghost town as revelers take to the countryside, traffic accidents on the national routes will skyrocket and Crime Month in Cambodia will come to an end.

A Police Story

Cambodian police enjoy a less than sterling reputation in general and are not known for their fair and impartial dealings with foreigners. That said, I had a pretty good encounter with a few of Cambodia's finest a couple of months back.

I was walking along the side of Sothearos Blvd here in Phnom Penh when some kid on a motorcycle came weaving through traffic going way too fast. Not an uncommon occurrence. As he sped past he weaved wide and accidentally clipped me from behind, catching me in the arm and the back of the leg with his handlebar and foot peg. It knocked me down, but not him. He just kept going.

I was scratched and a bit bruised, but nothing too terrible. Picking myself up I watched him disappear into the traffic ahead, his distinctive bright pink sequined shirt flapping in the wind. I thought he was long gone. But a moment later I noticed that pink shirt turn into a house about 300 or 400 meters up the road. I kept on walking that direction and after a few hundred meters, sure enough, there he was, marked by his pink shirt and nearby motorcycle, kneeling on the sidewalk outside a house delivering instructions to some workers repairing the pavement. And there just happened to be three cops standing there looking at the work being done.

Now I know that, generally speaking, the foreigner is at fault in any accident regardless of the circumstances, but still feeling bruised and miffed I decided to go for it. I waded into the crowd, pointed an accusing finger and scolded him in English for hitting me and running away. I looked around. People stared at me. Nobody seemed to understand anything except that I was angry. So I switched to speaking Khmer and said almost the same thing, but this time to the cops, displaying my bruised arm and pointing back down the street in the direction it happened.

When I was done all eyes turned towards Mr. Pink Shirt. He got a big shit-eating grin on his face and denied everything. The cops were having none of it though. My story made good sense, it jived with the fact that he had just come from that direction and his nervous smile branded his denial 'bullshit.' The cops immediately started lecturing him and moving in on him. The other Khmers there backed away. He continued his denials, which seemed to be making the cops angry. Other people nearby started to look our way, attracted by the sounds of angry words. One of the cops grabbed him by the arm and stood him up.

With all this commotion, I decided it was time for me to move on and just strolled away, continuing up Sothearos. About 30 meters on, I looked back. A cop had him by the scruff, Mr. Pink Shirt was screaming, 'no, no, no...' (in Khmer) and a crowd was forming. I felt completely satisfied with the results and continued my walk.

Kudos to those cops. Good job.

Khmer Pedophiles and the Cambodia Daily

Cambodia Daily, Sept 21, 2010, page 24

In the Cambodia Daily newspaper, foreigners who have been caught having sex with a minor child in Cambodia are routinely (and justifiably) referred to as 'pedophiles' or 'alleged pedophiles,' and the problem of 'foreign pedophiles' is almost always noted somewhere in such articles. There are also disturbingly regular reports in the Cambodia Daily of Cambodians "raping" children in Cambodia. In fact there currently seems to be an epidemic of Cambodians sexually abusing children. But, regardless of the age of the victims, Cambodians are never referred to as 'pedophiles' in the Cambodia Daily.

Helping to illustrate this point, today there are two stories in today's Daily set side-by-side (see above,) one of a foreign "pedophile" who sexually abused an 8-year-old boy and later two 16-year-old boys. Next to it there is a story of a Cambodian man who allegedly "raped" an 8-year-old girl and a 5-year-old girl on separate occasions. For some reason, the Cambodian who allegedly repeatedly sexually abused children is not referred to as a 'pedophile' or 'alleged pedophile' in the Daily article. And even though the article notes literally hundreds of cases of sexual abuse against children by Cambodians, there is no mention of pedophilia. Now, I could imagine several possible reasons for the different vocabulary used in these two specific articles in today's paper, that is if it weren't for the fact that in the dozens and dozens of stories of the sexual abuse of children by Cambodians and foreigners reported in the Cambodia Daily over the last decade, the Daily has never once referred to a Cambodian child sex offender as a 'pedophile' in any of its articles (at least in my semi-systematic observation.) Let me repeat for emphasis, not even once.

Assuming my observation is accurate, there would seem to be a pattern here. The Cambodia Daily seems categorically averse to attaching the label of 'pedophile' to Cambodian offenders, and I was just wondering why. What is the difference between Cambodian and foreign child sex offenders when it comes to being a 'pedophile?' Is there a racial component to being a 'pedophile'? Can a Cambodian be a pedophile or is that a category reserved exclusively for foreigners?

UPDATE: October 23, 2010
The Cambodia Daily provided a nice example this week. Two articles, same writer, 4 days apart, two men, one Khmer, the other a foreigner, arrested for virtually the same crime - purchasing sex from girls younger than 15. The article describes stereotypical pedophile behavior on the part of the Khmer man - engaging in serial sexual abuse of children, choosing his residence so as to have access to children, 'luring' them into his home where he would then pay them for sex.... Yet, in the article about the Khmer man, there is no mention of 'pedophilia.' Whereas in the article about the foreigner, (which in fact has less to do with the nature of the crime than in his accusation about the court,) pedophilia is not only mentioned but is in the headline. Very odd.

(Click on the article to enlarge it.)

Brothel Bust

Police lead girls wearing masks to van

This afternoon I witnessed a brothel bust here in Phnom Penh. Just happened across it as I walked up the street on my afternoon constitutional. The police raided a house amongst the strip of karaoke joints on Street 63, an area known for its brothel-like activities. Places that cater primarily to Cambodians and Vietnamese.

It was a peaceful bust from what I could see standing across the street. The police spent at least an hour in the place, presumably taking photos and gathering evidence. At one point the MPs showed up escorting some high ranking police or official, but they eventually moved on. At the end the gates of the house slid open wide and people began to emerge. The police led a half dozen working girls, all wearing

Gawkers like me

surgical masks, to a waiting van. Two children wandered out of the house nonchalantly and tried to disappear on the back of a motodup, but the police collected them and put them in the van too. They also arrested what appeared to be the mama and papason, putting them in a separate vehicle with the officer in charge. The police locked the front gates, tagged it and left.

These days this sort of thing is neither new nor uncommon. The Cambodian police have been using the anti-pimping laws for several years now, and to some significant effect. There are still plenty of prostitutes working the bars and clubs in Phnom

Police spot escaping children

Penh, and even on the streets in some areas, but regardless of what some NGOs may tout, the days of red light districts and the open brothel has long passed in the city, save a few comparatively small protected exceptions, like this little string of mostly Vietnamese places along 63. And today the civilian police raided one of those places, presumably because it was operating as a brothel or involved in trafficking.