FBI to Open Attaché Office in Cambodia

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation has opened an office in Phnom Penh responsible for both Cambodia and Vietnam, to better cope with transnational crime, terrorism and cyber crime, the chief of the new office said Tuesday, August 28.^[1]

Laro Tan, legal attaché of the FBI office in Phnom Penh, announced that the FBI opened the office at the U.S. Embassy on Aug. 2 at the request of the Cambodian government.^[2] The office also covers Vietnam because ''in addition to the same issues we are addressing in Cambodia -- terrorism, cyber crime and transnational crime -- we are also concerned about the issue of fugitives from U.S. law in Vietnam.''^[3]

The Cambodian government expressed an interest in having permanent FBI presence in Cambodia several years ago, but it was not until the embassy changed locations in 2006 that there was enough space to accommodate a legal attaché office.^[4]

The FBI now has more than 50 legal attaché offices in U.S. embassies and consulates around the world^[5] where its agents work with their overseas counterparts to help solve international crimes, track U.S. fugitives, stop foreign crime as far from American shores as possible and help ensure the safety of the American citizens abroad.^[6]

In addition to coordinating international investigations and covering leads for domestic U.S. investigations, the offices organize training classes for local police -- everything from counterterrorism and cyber crime matters to forensic techniques to human trafficking and human rights.^[7]

In Cambodia, FBI officers have helped train local police on counterterrorism law enforcement matters, while in the United States; the FBI has welcomed Cambodian law enforcement officers as students at the FBI National Academy.^[8]

In 2003, Cambodian authorities arrested three suspected members of Jemaah Islamiyah, an FBI-designated terrorist organization.^[9] The FBI and Cambodian police also cooperated in the arrest of members of the mostly U.S.-funded Cambodian Freedom Fighters, who were involved in clashes with government forces in Phnom Penh in November 2000.^[10]

U.S. citizen Richard Kiri Kim was arrested and charged for his involvement with that group following the attack, and Chhun Yasith, a Californian accountant who allegedly helped finance the group, was arrested in the United States in June 2005 on federal charges related to the violence.^[11]

Federal criminal defense attorney Douglas McNabb has covered most of the broad range of topics mentioned in this post in his various blogs; some of which can be found here:
transnational crimes; international crimes, human trafficking, terrorism, and national security crimes.

---

^[1] AP Staff, FBI opens office in Phnom Penh, Associated Press Newswire, August 29, 2007, available at available at LEXIS, News Library, Wire News Services File.
^[2] Id.
^[3] Id.
^[4] Id.
^[5] In Asia, the FBI's offices are in Bangkok, Beijing, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, New Delhi, Seoul, Singapore, Tokyo and now Phnom Penh.
^[6] AP Staff, supra note 1.
^[7] Id.
^[8] Id.
^[9] Id.
^[10] Id.
^[11] Id.