SIHANOUKVILLE: The Preah Sihanouk Provincial Administration (PSPA) released a statement dismissing claims made in a BBC documentary as unverified and “baseless.”

The BBC published a video on 8 March highlighting so-called “pig butchering romance scams” in which four Chinese nationals were subjected to torture and detained at the Huang Le compound in Sihanoukville.

The PSPA rejected claims made in the 47-minute documentary saying they “by no means reflected the reality of the current situation,” and that the video “severely affected the honor and dignity of the Preah Sihanouk Provincial Administration as well as the leaderships of the Royal Government of Cambodia.”

Upon the video’s release, the provincial administration launched an investigation with the cooperation of the National Police in which they inspected the casinos mentioned and found “no sign of neither forced captivity nor torture.”

The PSPA accused the BBC of using unverified sources to report on old situations which have already been resolved. They reiterated their commitment to work with the Royal Government in preventing human trafficking and improving safety conditions in the province to “promote investment, tourism potentials, and especially to change the negative perspectives that had taken place in the past.”