By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Cambodian authorities have agreed to the swift repatriation of 54 Pakistani nationals arrested in a police raid on a scamming compound in Siem Reap province, Pakistan’s Foreign Office said on Tuesday, capping weeks of diplomatic pressure over the treatment of more than 200 Pakistanis held in overcrowded Cambodian detention facilities.
The Foreign Office said the embassy in Phnom Penh had worked intensively with Cambodian officials at the direction of Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, who instructed diplomats to take “all possible actions” to assist Pakistanis abroad. As a result, embassy staff have now secured the early release of the 54 detainees without any legal proceedings against them, the ministry said.
“These detainees will leave Cambodia as soon as flight arrangements are finalised,” the Foreign Office statement added. Embassy personnel are also taking steps to ensure the welfare of all Pakistanis still in custody.
Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi confirmed the agreement, describing the Cambodian decision as a “goodwill gesture.” The 54 men had been arrested in a raid on what authorities described as a scamming compound. They will be repatriated without facing charges under Cambodia’s new Law on Combating Online Scams, which took effect on April 7 and imposes heavy prison sentences and substantial fines for involvement in such operations.
The announcement came after reports surfaced of more than 200 Pakistanis being held in Cambodian police facilities under reportedly dire conditions. One Pakistani national, speaking to a private television channel, described harsh treatment inside the detention centers, alleging that police were demanding $1,500 per person to arrange deportation. “We do not have money to bribe the Cambodian police,” he said. He added that detainees were forced to eat from the same plates used to feed dogs and confirmed that “several Pakistani nationals” remained in Cambodian jails. The man said he had arrived in Cambodia two years earlier after being recruited through an agent.
Cambodia has become a major hub in Southeast Asia’s exploding cyberscam industry, which experts estimate generates billions of dollars annually. Thousands of people — some lured by false job promises, others coerced by criminal syndicates — have been drawn into fraudulent online operations ranging from romance scams and investment frauds to cryptocurrency schemes. Last year, a United Nations report warned that Asian crime syndicates behind the multibillion-dollar industry were rapidly expanding their reach, including into South America and Africa.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime has documented how these networks have adapted by shifting operations into remote, poorly governed areas of Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia, where weak law enforcement and high levels of corruption provide fertile ground for such enterprises. Cambodian authorities have conducted periodic raids on scam compounds, but the scale of the problem has continued to grow.
Pakistan’s diplomatic intervention reflects growing concern in Islamabad over the vulnerability of its citizens to human-trafficking networks that promise lucrative overseas jobs but deliver forced labor in scam centers. The Foreign Office said its efforts in Cambodia were part of a broader push to protect Pakistani communities abroad. No immediate details were released on the timing of the repatriation flights or the identities of those being returned. The remaining Pakistanis still in custody were not included in the current agreement, officials said.
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