Thailand has reportedly bombed at least five Cambodian casinos and suspected online scamming complexes since fighting erupted again between the neighbouring South-East Asian countries. An expert says the attacks could be putting the lives of human trafficking victims at risk and may be considered war crimes.
The Thai military claims the sites spanning at least three provinces were being used for military purposes including staging troops, launching drones and storing rockets.
Cambodia has in recent years become a hub for industrial-scale online scamming and human trafficking operations often run out of casino buildings or purpose-built compounds. Many are now reportedly run out of border casinos, which historically catered to gamblers from Thailand and Vietnam where gambling is banned.
Jacob Sims, a visiting fellow at Harvard University’s Asia Center and a senior advisor on transnational crime at Inca Digital, said it was “entirely plausible” that the Cambodian military was using the buildings. “The Cambodian side is very underdeveloped and these compounds are the most viable military infrastructure along the border,” he told the ABC. “Moreover, the same elite patronage connections which have provided their owners state protection for their criminal activities also demands/purchases their loyalty in support of Cambodia’s military imperatives.”
Mr Sims said there was no guarantee that the casinos had been evacuated and they could still be housing thousands of trafficking victims working for scam operations. “Bombing compounds is not a remotely reasonable way to combat the scam industry,” Mr Sims said. “These are enormous questions as we could be looking at war crimes on both sides here.”