More illegal Vietnamese immigrants deported from Cambodia

Cambodian authorities expelled additional 16 Vietnamese nationals to their birth country on Tuesday for illegally living and working in Cambodia, an immigration police officer said.

Uk Heisela, chief of the General Department of Immigration's investigation and procedure department, said his immigration officers had arrested them in the provinces of Siem Reap, Pailin and Banteay Meanchey for illegally living and working in Cambodia.

"They were deported to their country on Tuesday morning,"he said.

According to the official, during the first seven months of this year, the country had expelled nearly 1,500 illegal immigrants to their birth countries, 90 percent of the deportees being Vietnamese.

Sok Phal, chief of the General Department of Immigration, said last month that it was estimated that at least 160,000 Vietnamese immigrants are living in Cambodia.

Under the country's immigration law, any alien living in Cambodia without valid documents such as passports, visas, or work permits are subject to deportation. Endi