Abdullah Al Mamun, a Bangladeshi-born national, is running a cross-border human trafficking network that coerces desperate Bangladeshis into Cambodia’s infamous cyber scams.
Known in criminal circles as “Apu,” he operates a sprawling syndicate that lures victims with false promises, traps them in online fraud, and extorts money through systematic abuse.
Originally from Mymensingh, Apu left Bangladesh around 2015, moving through several Southeast Asian countries before finally settling in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Armed with a Cambodian passport, he insulated himself from legal scrutiny by masquerading as the general secretary of the Awami League’s Cambodia unit, a position the party’s central leadership confirmed does not exist.
Investigation reveals that the political upheaval in Bangladesh on 5 August 2024, which led to the collapse of the government, provided Apu with a highly lucrative opportunity.
As fleeing politicians and former officials sought safe havens and clandestine avenues to protect their assets, many reached out to the well-connected fixer they thought they could trust. Instead, Apu turned his syndicate’s predatory machinery directly against them, targeting the newly vulnerable for financial exploitation.
Cambodia has since seen a surge in arrivals from Bangladesh. Official data from the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) reveals that 2,408 Bangladeshis travelled there between January and April 2026 alone.
The Trafficking in Human Beings (THB) unit of Bangladesh Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is actively tracking the syndicate’s local operatives.
The trafficking trail
Over the past month, TIMES of Bangladesh interviewed 15 survivors of trafficking in Cambodia, all of whom reported losing everything.
According to them, the deception begins in Dhaka, where Apu’s recruiters lure hopeful youth with promises of high-paying corporate jobs, visa assistance, and secure placements. They demand fees as high as $4,400 (approximately Tk5,20,000 to Tk5,75,000) per person.
Once the cash changes hands, the criminal machinery kicks into motion. To strip victims of their legal rights upon arrival, the syndicate issues tourist visas instead of employment visas, according to survivors.
The horror begins the moment travellers land at Phnom Penh International Airport. Rather than being taken to offices or construction sites, their passports are immediately confiscated under the pretext of visa processing.
Victims are fast-tracked to the network’s central command centre: the heavily fortified “Mekong River” building in Phnom Penh’s Area 231. There, they are held until their tourist visas expire. When legal status ends, they become undocumented fugitives, entirely dependent on Apu’s syndicate for survival.
From the command centre, victims are distributed into heavily guarded digital-age slave pens operating under the guise of technology parks in the Street 68 area of Phnom Penh, a hub for modern-day trafficking operations.
Inside these centres, tech-savvy captives are forced at gunpoint to operate “black websites,” conducting phishing campaigns, identity theft, and e-commerce scams disguised as sports betting or dating platforms.
Those who resist or fail to meet scam quotas are sent to notorious detention centres in Sihanoukville, where they are locked in dark cells, savagely beaten, and subjected to electric shocks.
The syndicate takes videos of the abuse and sends footage to terrified families back home to extract ransoms, according to survivors.
Trapped by expired visas and a paralysing fear of complicit local police, victims endure in silence. Some are manipulated into conducting dangerous “visa runs” to the Thai border, a calculated trap that deepens their legal jeopardy.
“When I refused to participate in the cyber scams, the syndicate members tortured me,” Md Tariqul Islam told TIMES. He managed to escape and is now hiding in Phnom Penh. “I’m trying to get back home.”
Md Asad, a resident of Rajshahi, fell victim to the trafficking network and was taken to Cambodia. “In January this year, I was lured to Cambodia with the promise of a monthly salary of $600.”
Detailing how he crossed airport immigration, he said the traffickers first collected Tk50,000 from him at the parking area outside Dhaka airport. They then instructed him to stand in front of Sonali Bank. After that, he was told to go to Counter No. 9 and mention specific codes such as ‘Assalamu Alaikum’, ‘Barishal’, ‘Rajshahi’, or ‘Eyepakhi’; different individuals were given different codes.
“Immigration officers then cleared us on tourist visas,” he said, adding that a total of six people from the same area were taken together by this trafficking group.
After boarding the flight, Asad said each of them was given $1,000. Upon arriving in Cambodia after a one-hour transit in Thailand, he said the traffickers realised Tk470,000 from each of them and confiscated their passports. “We were then detained at a traffickers’ house in Phnom Penh.”
Jamal Hossain, another survivor, was forced into a shadowy organisation called “Dragon Tech,” owned by a Chinese national. The company has no legal presence, operating entirely through Facebook groups where he ran predatory dating and sports-betting scams.
TIMES found at least ten active Facebook pages and groups broadcasting fraudulent job ads targeting South Asian workers.
Sajid Hossain Sumro, a Pakistani national, described a highly organised digital trap where traffickers post ads with forged government seals from both Cambodia and the source country to appear credible.
“Once a target bites, the operation shifts to WhatsApp, Telegram, and Facebook Messenger. If an applicant doesn’t have a passport, local underground brokers secure one,” he told TIMES, adding that he remains trapped in Cambodia.
Network in Bangladesh
Domestically, Apu’s syndicate is anchored by a deeply entrenched network operating in Dhaka. At the centre is “Star Wings” in Uttara, posing as a ticketing agency but secretly processing fraudulent Cambodian visas.
Victims allege complicity from airport officials and local middlemen, allowing passengers to bypass standard immigration safeguards.
The syndicate functions like a corporate organisation. Alam and Saikat manage recruitment, Arshad and Raihan handle document confiscation, and Nayem (Roni) and Apel execute field operations. Jamal Hossain heads cyber operations, while financial masterminds Fatuk and Mukul coordinate international transactions through the underground “hundi” system, working with Cambodian national IM Sokhim.
An associate of Apu, Ariful Islam, told TIMES that the total cost per traveller is Tk5,75,000, with Tk1,00,000 paid upfront and the rest deducted from earnings in Cambodia.
CID has been investigating six travel agencies linked to Cambodian human trafficking since 2023. Badrul Alam Mollah, officer of the Trafficking in Human Beings Department of CID, said multiple cases have been filed against Apu.
“Law enforcement has mapped out a comprehensive list of Apu’s domestic accomplices, whom we will begin arresting,” he said. The agency is also tracking Apu’s global movements, associates, and illicit financial networks. Attempts to contact Apu or his operatives directly were unsuccessful.
Fake clearances from BMET
The Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training has issued clearances to non-existent Bangladeshi and Cambodian entities without verification, facilitating trafficking.
The syndicate created name-only companies to produce fraudulent documents. Among the fake front companies weaponised by traffickers to legally export human slaves are Max Merchant Company Limited, Chip Hong Inc. Limited, HLH Agriculture Company Limited, and the Sok Hang Group.
Official recruitment documents bore genuine, attested seals under labour counsellor Md Fahad Parvez Basunia at the Bangladesh Embassy in Bangkok. TIMES contacted him via email but received no reply.
