Tourists Arrested for ‘Pornographic Dancing’ Near Sacred Temple in Cambodia

January 29, 2018

Cambodian authorities arrested a group of Caucasian tourists, this time for “pornographic dancing” in Siem Reap, the so-called “gateway” to Angkor Wat, the largest religious monument in the world.

In police photos, shirtless men can be seen straddling women on the floor in what appear to be party games. However, one of the prisoners claimed that none of those detained were in the pictures.

The group, arrested on January 25, insisted that they have no idea they did anything wrong.

The Guardian quoted the unidentified prisoner as saying:

“We’re innocent. We don’t know why we’ve been arrested — we’re getting different stories from different people.

“Honestly, it was really confusing. Everyone was confused. They raided, rounded us up — there was about 80 to 100 people at this party, some of them were tourists. There were about 30 of them [police officers].”

The group of 10, aged 19 to 35, included five men from the United Kingdom: Vincent Harley Robert Hook (35), Paul Francis Harris (32) Daniel Richard Leeming Jones (30), Thomas Alexander Jeffries (22) and Billy Stevens (21).

Also arrested were Paul Martin Brasch of New Zealand (32), Job Robertus van der Wel from the Netherlands (22), David Nikolaus Aleksandr Ballovarre of Norway (22) and two Canadian women, Jessica Drolet of Ottawa (25) and Eden Koazoleas of Alberta (19).

According to The Sun, the party was hosted by a service called “Let’s Get Wet” which boasts having secret parties in a new location every Thursday on Facebook. The Facebook page has since been taken down.

Samrith Sokhon, a prosecutor in Siem Reap, said that the tourists are charged with producing “pornographic pictures and materials.”

Meanwhile, Duong Thavry, head of the city’s anti-human trafficking and juvenile protection department, explained, “We cracked down on them because they committed activities that are against our culture.”

For now, the tourists have been sleeping on the floor of a local police station awaiting their appearances in court, which could take six months. Their families are “worried sick.”

A mother of one of the prisoners said:

“I’m getting to the stage where I’m just laughing about it… I’m just so damn tired. I haven’t slept since this all started. I’m worried about their state of mind.”

The tourists are facing up to a year in prison if proven guilty.

Photos via Cambodian Police

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