The provincial governor of Preah Sihanouk, Kuoch Chamroeun, has promised to crack down on crime at casinos following the shooting deaths of two people at the Tong Fang Palirin Casino in Sihanoukville.
According to sources, increasing foreign influence in the country has led to a surge in crime and turned parts of Cambodia into a “Wild West” of sorts. All people involved in the shootout, including the victims, were Chinese nationals. The casino owner also reportedly is Chinese.
The governor is especially targeting human trafficking, drug trafficking, illegal confinement, gun violence and murder.
“After this deadly shooting incident, we’re taking decisive action against casinos and other business locations,” he said. “If they are found to be involved in (criminal activities), we will shut them down, suspend their operations and ask permission from the government to revoke their business licenses.
“We are formally putting the owners of casinos and other business owners within our jurisdiction on notice that no further incidents will be tolerated.”
Sihanoukville, which has Cambodia’s only deep-water port, was once “a playground for Cambodia’s elite,” according to a 2017 report in Reuters. It hit hard times during the Khmer Rouge genocide and conflicts of the 1970s and 1980s “before becoming a stop for backpackers and other Westerners looking for sun, sea, sand and—for some—sex.”
Since then, a steady influx of Chinese money into its casinos has transformed a city promoted by developers as the first port of call on China’s “Belt and Road.”
The transformation has not been positive, making Sihanoukville a haven for Chinese organized crime gangs. Currently, about 90 percent of all businesses in the city belong to Chinese nationals.
About 100 casinos operate in the vicinity, and police have received reports of illegal land-based and iGaming operators holding workers hostage, forcing them to toil up to 16 hours a day, and reportedly being tortured or “sold” to other operations if their performance is unsatisfactory. Those who want to leave reportedly must pay a ransom to secure their release.
