Immigration police in Siem Reap town yesterday arrested 19 Chinese nationals for allegedly running an illegal online gambling operation, police said.

Chea Kamsan, deputy provincial immigration police chief, said the suspects – 18 men and one woman – were arrested in three separate locations in Svay Dangkum commune.

“They sell accounts for online games. Now, they are still at the police station for questioning before being sent to court, but it will take some time . . . We only just found [a translator], and we’ve just finished questioning one of them so far,” he said.

Kamsan declined to divulge the details of the alleged operation or what type of gambling was being facilitated, saying only that the investigation had been carried out with the use of an undercover informant.

He also noted that the 19 would be tried at the Siem Reap Provincial Court – unlike Chinese nationals arrested running online overseas extortion rings who are often repatriated – as the crime had been committed in Cambodia.

Kamsan added that the suspects could face anywhere from one to five years in prison depending on “their answers about the scope of the gambling they operated”.