Media: The story of a Bhutanese family being reunited with their daughter after she was kidnapped in Cambodia 20 years ago being shared on Facebook is false.
The news, posted online on October 16 on a website titled ‘Times of Cambodia’, went viral and many Bhutanese are still sharing the link. While many readers pointed out that the story is too filmy to be true, others were not convinced.
Media professionals in Cambodia say there is no such news agency in the country and that the story is fake. A reporter with the Phnom Penh Post, Sokha Pin, said there is no media organisation with such a name and he never heard of the story.
The story claimed that the Bhutanese family went for a holiday in Cambodia in 1996 and that the daughter got kidnapped before the family returned. But the girl was reunited with the family this year after the brother, who went to a business trip to the country, met her on the streets of Phnom Penh, recently.
The story also claimed that the kidnappers sold the girl to a Cambodian gang involved in sex trafficking and that she worked in a brothel which had recently been raided by authorities.
Many Bhutanese following the news online commented that the story is dubious based on the names of the girl’s father and brother, Dendup Lhamo and Jampa Lhamo. The two names are usually used in the country for females.
The deputy chief of police for crime, Colonel Dorji Wangchuk, said there is no case registered of a missing girl in Cambodia.
Tashi Dema