A journalist honored by the U.S. State Department for exposing an online scam center in Cambodia has been arrested by Cambodian military police.
The Telegraph reports authorities arrested Mech Dara on Monday at a checkpoint while he was in his car with his family.
Just a day earlier, he had posted a photo on Facebook exposing suspected environmental damage at a rock quarry, a concern blasted by the government as an attempt to instigate political dissent.
According to Independent, Dara texted a message to a rights group about his arrest before authorities apparently confiscated his phone. Military police have also reportedly confirmed the arrest.
Last year, Secretary of State Antony Blinken awarded Dara a Hero Award for exposing a compound staffed by trafficked workers forced to operate scams designed to cheat unsuspecting consumers worldwide online, including the United States.
Known as pig butchering scams, fraudsters fatten their victims by first rewarding them with high returns for their investment. Once the victims increase their investments, their money disappears.
“Day by day, Cambodia appears to more closely resemble the authoritarian, single party regimes of Vietnam and China, with their total intolerance for media freedom,” Asia Human Rights and Labor Advocates said in a statement.
The State Department has been notified about Dara’s arrest.
“We are following developments closely with great concern,” it said.
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