Nearly 60 foreign workers at a Cambodian casino complex broke past security guards to escape from the complex, forcing their way out with metal rods.
The workers, many from Nepal and Pakistan, were fleeing the O-Smach Resort.
The resort is owned by Cambodian businessman Ly Yong Phat and is reportedly home to an online scam operation.
Two guards were injured in the dispute with the 57 workers.
After leaving the complex, the workers walked over 5 kilometers before being picked up by police, who took them to the province’s capital of Samroang for questioning.
According to Radio Free Asia, the workers didn’t specify why they had left the complex, only indicating they wanted to work somewhere else, namely Poipet – rough 200 kilometers from O’Smach.
A witness heard by the publication says the workers had complained of physical punishment.
Human rights groups have been pushing for more investigations into forced labor at complexes in Cambodia, particularly following the sanctioning of O-Smach Resort’s owner Ly Yong Phat for “serious human rights abuses”.
The United States authorities sanctioned Ly’s L.Y.P Group and the O-Smach Resort, while indicating that Ly also controls three other Cambodian properties – the Garden City Hotel, Koh Kong Resort and Phnom Penh Hotel.
Authorities had been investigating O-Smach since 2022 following reports that individuals were duped with false employment claims and that employees had phones and identity documents taken on arrival in order to force them into working the scam operations.
The US authorities claimed there was “corruption” and “official complicity” in the illegal operations at O-Smach, including support from senior government officials.
