Cambodian court charges Japanese man with human trafficking

A Cambodian court on Tuesday charged a Japanese man and two Cambodians with human trafficking for allegedly recruiting 10 Cambodian women to work in Japan, where they were forced into sex trade, a spokesman said.

Fukui Susumu, 52, manager of a Japanese restaurant in Phnom Penh, and his 28-year-old Cambodian wife as well as his 34-year-old male-employee were arrested last week at the restaurant on the western outskirts of Phnom Penh.

The court prosecutor decides to charge them with unlawful recruitment for exploitation under the Article 12 of the Law on Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation, Phnom Penh Municipal Court spokesman Ly Sophana told reporters.

Under the charge, the trio could face a prison term of between 7 and 20 years if convicted.

Police said Susumu and his wife lured 10 Cambodian women in August last year to work in a restaurant in Japan, lying to them that they could earn between 3,000 U.S. dollars and 5,000 U.S. dollars per month.

However, when the women arrived in Japan in November, another Japanese man Kabasawa Nakare, 50, took them to work as waitresses in a restaurant in Gunma prefecture and forced them to have sex with Japanese clients, the police said.

Police added that the arrest came after seven of the women secretly contacted the Cambodian Embassy in Tokyo in December and filed a complaint to Japanese authorities for an intervention.

The victims were repatriated to Cambodia last month. Enditem