{"id":94016,"date":"2018-12-06T12:58:16","date_gmt":"2018-12-06T20:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=94016"},"modified":"2018-12-06T12:58:16","modified_gmt":"2018-12-06T20:58:16","slug":"chinese-loan-sharks-held-for-kidnapping-in-cambodia-gambling-hub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chinese-loan-sharks-held-for-kidnapping-in-cambodia-gambling-hub\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Trouble in Little China: Nine Loan Sharks Held for Kidnapping, Torture in China\u2019s Cambodian Gambling Hub"},"content":{"rendered":"

Authorities in Cambodia have arrested nine Chinese nationals for the alleged kidnap<\/a> and torture of two gamblers in Sihanoukville, a once sleepy seaside town now booming with Chinese-owned casinos.<\/p>\n

\"Sihanoukville\"
Sihanoukville in western Cambodia has become a Chinese gambling hub over the past two years, fueled by lax regulation and billions of dollars of Chinese investment. Chinese organized crime is also thriving in the city. (Brent Lewin\/Bloomberg)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Major Sok Kosal of the Sihanouk Province Military Police said the men were loan sharks, according to the Khmer Times.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re part of a Chinese gang who provided loans to gamblers at a casino in Sihanoukville,\u201d said Kosal. \u201cThe suspects held two of their countrymen — who owed money due to gambling — and tortured them in order to get the money back from the victims\u2019 families.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Kosal said the men were arrested after the gang\u2019s rented house in the south of the city was raided by military police officers. Handcuffs, a gun, and two electric batons were retrieved from the building. The victims had been held captive for five days, he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Deputy commander of the provincial military police Lieutenant Colonel Cheng Vuthy said the nine suspects are accused of unlawful confinement, cruelty and unauthorized use of a weapon. Each face five years in prison.<\/p>\n

The victims were taken to the Chinese embassy in Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital.<\/p>\n

Wild East Boom Town<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The growth of Sihanoukville over just the last two years — fueled by billions of dollars of Chinese investment — has overwhelmed locals, who are prohibited by law from entering the casinos that are suddenly everywhere in their city.<\/p>\n

According to a report by The Guardian<\/em>, there will be 70 casinos in Sihanoukville by the end of this year. The new gambling venues have brought an influx of Chinese tourists and high-rolling gamblers, while thousands Chinese have arrived to work within the casinos.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s estimated that around 20 percent of the city\u2019s population is now Chinese, a segment that has little interaction with the natives.<\/p>\n

Triads Descend<\/strong><\/h2>\n

There has been a tightening of regulatory controls on the junket industry of Macau in recent years in a bid to drive out organized crime<\/a>, but Sihanoukville is developing faster than local authorities can draw up regulations, and the country\u2019s authoritarian government is largely just happy to see the money roll in.<\/p>\n

\n

Non-existent regulations and lax money-laundering controls are a boon for Chinese gambling operators, but also for organized crime, which has found a new route into the junket industry after being driven out of Macau. This is fueling a rise in the kidnappings of gamblers who can\u2019t pay their debts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Earlier this year, provincial governor Lt. Gen. Yun Mi complained that the crime rate in Sihanoukville was soaring because of \u201cChinese mafia [who] disguise themselves to commit various crimes and kidnap Chinese investors \u2026 causing insecurity in the province.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Authorities in Cambodia have arrested nine Chinese nationals for the alleged kidnap and torture of two gamblers in Sihanoukville, a once sleepy seaside town now booming with Chinese-owned casinos. Major Sok Kosal of the Sihanouk Province Military Police said the men were loan sharks, according to the Khmer Times. \u201cThey\u2019re part of a Chinese gang […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":94019,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nChinese Loan Sharks Held for Kidnapping in Cambodia Gambling Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Cambodia\u2019s Sihanoukville has been transformed by into a casino town by billions of dollars in Chinese investment over the past two years but locals complain ax regulations are attracting organized crime.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chinese Loan Sharks Held for Kidnapping in Cambodia Gambling Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Cambodia\u2019s Sihanoukville has been transformed by into a casino town by billions of dollars in Chinese investment over the past two years but locals complain ax regulations are attracting organized crime.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chinese-loan-sharks-held-for-kidnapping-in-cambodia-gambling-hub\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-12-06T20:58:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/sihanoukville.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chinese-loan-sharks-held-for-kidnapping-in-cambodia-gambling-hub\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chinese-loan-sharks-held-for-kidnapping-in-cambodia-gambling-hub\/\",\"name\":\"Chinese Loan Sharks Held for Kidnapping in Cambodia Gambling Hub\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chinese-loan-sharks-held-for-kidnapping-in-cambodia-gambling-hub\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chinese-loan-sharks-held-for-kidnapping-in-cambodia-gambling-hub\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/sihanoukville.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-12-06T20:58:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-12-06T20:58:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Cambodia\u2019s Sihanoukville has been transformed by into a casino town by billions of dollars in Chinese investment over the past two years but locals complain ax regulations are attracting organized crime.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chinese-loan-sharks-held-for-kidnapping-in-cambodia-gambling-hub\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chinese-loan-sharks-held-for-kidnapping-in-cambodia-gambling-hub\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chinese-loan-sharks-held-for-kidnapping-in-cambodia-gambling-hub\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/sihanoukville.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/sihanoukville.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"Sihanoukville in western Cambodia has become a Chinese gambling hub over the past two years, fueled by lax regulation and billions of dollars of Chinese investment. 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