Most foreigners with fake admin documents in Cambodia are Vietnamese

Citing the Ministry of Interior, the Phnom Penh Post also reported Tuesday that the drive to seize fake and other illegitimate documents from immigrants will continue for the next six months.

It quoted Kirth Chantharith, director-general of the ministry’s General Immigration Department as saying the 30,000 documents seized throughout last year included family books, residence books, identity cards, birth certificates and passports.

Cambodia has deported approximately 15,000 people since 2014, 3,000 of them last year, said Chantharith. Most of the deported were Vietnamese, Chinese and Nigerians, he added.

A majority of the Vietnamese, Chinese and Nigerians were involved in phone scams.

Chantharith also said that foreigners from 40 other countries were also expelled from Cambodia.

"Forging national documents is a crime. If we do not take prohibitive measures, more problems will arise. Those issuing the documents should also be held accountable," said Soeung Sen Karuna, a human rights investigator.

"This sort of problem has occurred far too often and it has become the new normal," Karuna said.

Cambodia has been eliminating and withdrawing illegitimate national administrative documents in the hands of foreigners since August 2017 under a governmental directive.