An award-winning reporter known for investigating local corruption, trafficking, and online scams was detained by the country’s military police on Tuesday ( October 1 ), bringing the news to the attention of a well-known human rights organization and the United States.
Mech Dara, who worked for international and local media sources, was detained on Monday, said defense police spokeswoman Eng Hy, without specifying the costs.
” We have put in place a jury warrant to arrest him.” His whereabouts, I do n’t  , know”, the spokesperson said.
Dara was stopped at a bridge burden booth on the borders of Koh Kong and Sihanouk state in the south of the nation, according to the human rights organization Licadho.
” Dara may be freed so he can continue his work to shed light on problems like human trafficking, forced labour and corruption”, Licadho’s co-director Naly Pilorge said, adding his position and movements was mysterious.
” All Cambodians may have a devastating impact on access to information by holding one of the country’s bravest editors.”
Information of the arrest were not freely confirmed by Reuters.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken recognized Dara’s bravery last year by awarding him with a warrior award for his investigation into the existence of enormous fraud factories staffed primarily by recruited workers in Cambodia.
A spokesperson for the US State Department stated that the agency was aware of reports of Dara’s incarceration, adding that” we are closely monitoring developments with great problem.”
In recent years, Southeast Asia has emerged as the epicenter of a multibillion-dollar legal industry that targets victims around the world through phony crypto and other schemes, frequently operating from guarded areas run by Chinese syndicates and staffed by trafficked employees.
Thai business and ruling group Senator Ly Yong Lil was sanctioned by Washington next month for alleged ties to the market. He is known as the “king of Koh Kong” for having impact over his home province.
The Senator has expressed lament over the US actions, which Cambodia’s authorities said were politically motivated.
Cambodia’s local media scene was once vibrant, but in recent years, the country’s press freedom index has fallen to the lowest as a result of officials ‘ shuttering of the few remaining independent outlets, many of which Dara worked for.
At the time, the columnist, who had worked his way up from handling files to breaking large information, told BBC News every newspaper he had worked in had been silenced.
The state of Cambodia has argued that it will punish those who violate the law but does not restrict free conversation.