64 South Korean cyber scam suspects repatriated from Cambodia

Sixty-four South Koreans who had been detained in Cambodia for alleged involvement in cyberscam operations returned home on Saturday and were under arrest, police said.

South Korea had sent a team to Cambodia on Wednesday to discuss cases of fake jobs and scam centres involved in kidnapping dozens of its nationals.

“A total of 64 nationals just arrived at Incheon International Airport on a chartered flight,” a police official said.

Seoul had said around 60 South Koreans had been detained by authorities in Cambodia over the alleged crimes and vowed to bring them home.

The repatriation follows a public outcry in South Korea over the torture and killing of a Korean college student in Cambodia this year, reportedly by a crime ring.

The suspects were arrested on board the chartered flight shortly after boarding, the official said.

All 64 had been taken into custody as criminal suspects upon arrival at Incheon airport and would be transferred to the police stations with jurisdiction over their respective cases, the official said.