Two Chinese plantation workers employed by the Pheapimex conglomerate to grow cassava in Pursat province were arrested for allegedly defaming their fellow farmers on Facebook and later released after the company intervened, police have said.

Captain Seng Saveth, deputy chief of Krakor district police, said the two men were arrested on Saturday after five Chinese women complained to the authorities that they had “insulted” them on the social networking site.

Yang Louching, 35, and Lee Yuan, 32, “were arrested because they insulted and defamed [the complainants] by writing in Chinese and posting it on Facebook”, he said.

“The victims in this case demanded $100,000 in compensation, each,” he added.

Colonel Seang Sopheak, chief of the provincial penal police unit, said the suspects were subsequently released after the manager of the plantation, which is owned by ruling party Senator Lao Meng Khin, intervened.

“They now have been released after there was a compromise from the chief of the cassava plantation … and after they paid some money to the victims,” he said.