Police on May 8 impounded 42 vans and detained 55 drivers and bus conductors who were transporting garment workers out of the Red Zone in Chaom Chao I commune of Phnom Penh’s Por Sen Chey district in violation of the lockdown order.

District police chief Morn Vuthy told The Post on May 9 that of the workers transported from the red zones, only 49 remained on vehicles that were stopped while the others were pursued back to their places of origin.

He added that in the vehicles were 55 drivers and bus conductors. He did not know whether they would be quarantined as it is a matter for district governor Hem Darith to decide.

Vuthy said the vehicles had come from different provinces. The drivers had tried to rush workers back to their hometowns as Phnom Pen was put into lockdown with some areas designated as red zones.

The drivers, bus conductors and workers are being detained at a school in the district’s Kork Kanchhan commune.

Darith could not be reached for comment on May 9.

Municipal hall spokesman Meth Meas Pheakdey said on May 9 that the drivers and workers would be taken to quarantine centres on May 8 and not to court yet. After quarantine, city hall would decide how to proceed with the case.