SIHANOUKVILLE: The Secretary of State of the Ministry of Interior and Chairman of the Task Force for Ending of Illegal Gambling in the country, Sok Phal, has said that in the future, the Minister of Interior, DPM Sar Kheng, will meet with the Chinese and Vietnamese Ambassadors to discuss the issue of foreigners coming to Cambodia for illegal gambling.

Speaking to the media during the crackdown on illegal gambling sites in Sihanoukville on Friday, 23 September, Secretary of State Sok Phal said, "In the future, the DPM will also meet with request from the Chinese and Vietnamese embassies. What kind of request? That is, the request to work together to bring their people back to their country, because we do not intend to commit violence, imprisonment, or chain them all up. It is important to live well and return with an understanding that [what they did] was against Cambodia’s law and they cannot continue to [do that kind of] business here as a career to support themselves and their families."

The crackdown on illegal gambling by the Royal Government intensified after Prime Minister Hun Sen issued a verbal warning on 17 September that he would not hesitate to remove officials from their positions in district, capital and provincial offices, nor from the police and military, if they are unable to crack down on illegal gambling in their respective geographical territories.

The Prime Minister added that the Royal Government has decided to establish a national working group to crack down on illegal gambling sites.

Meanwhile, the Royal Government has also decided to set up a national task force to crack down on illegal gambling sites across the country. However, district and provincial governors must also pull their own weight and do the work to crack down on illegal gambling cases, while the national task force conducts its additional duty of investigating officials who are suspected of contributing or conspiring to establish illegal gambling activities in their respective districts.