[Vietnamization: criminal elements] Vietnamese wanted for alleged Cambodian child rape arrested

Nguyen Thanh Dung at the police station. Photo courtesy of Ho Chi Minh City Police

Vietnamese wanted for alleged Cambodian child rape arrested

  | 7 December 2016

The man allegedly used a stun gun on various body parts of a two-year-old Cambodian boy as he screamed in pain.

Police have arrested Nguyen Thanh Dung, a Vietnamese suspect who allegedly took part in the torture and rape of a two-year-old boy in Cambodia, Ho Sy Tien, director of the Criminal Police Department under Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security, said late Wednesday.

Dung was caught in Ho Chi Minh City just a day after police in Cambodia arrested a Dutch man and two Cambodian men who appeared in disturbing child abuse videos posted on Facebook. 

 Cambodian officers have taken into custody Stefan Struik, the 53-year-old CEO of Kamkav, a company that owns cocoa plantations and a palm sugar plant in Cambodia. His Cambodian employees, Ret Sothy, 28, and Oeu Nat, 25, were also arrested, the Cambodia Daily reported.

Police said the four were suspected of involvement in the torture and rape of a 2-year-old boy, who appeared naked being abused with an electric prod in videos recently circulated on Facebook.

So Sovann, deputy police chief of Mondolkiri Province, told the Cambodia Daily that the assault occurred on a local plantation owned by Struik. The victim was a Cambodian child whose parents worked for him and lived on the plantation together.

Many of the videos posted on Facebook have been taken down, including a post in which a Vietnamese woman said she felt compelled to share the graphic videos in the hope that the perpetrators would be caught.

One video which remained online until Tuesday evening showed a man using a stun gun on various body parts of the boy as he screams in pain.

The three men were taken into custody after the boy’s parents filed rape charges against them.

A police report said there was strong physical evidence that the boy had been anally raped, the Cambodia Daily said.

Police said Dung worked as a chef for Struik.