The Phnom Penh Post today reported authorities as saying that Ou Radin earned between RM6,000 and RM6,400 for each person that she brought into Malaysia.
It is understood she was paid the amounts by a broker based in the country.
“The women were promised 300 to 400 (US) dollars (RM1,280 to RM1,700) each,” Cambodian Anti-Human Trafficking Department deputy chief Sou Vanndy was quoted as saying.
He added that Ou did not have any local accomplices in her trafficking activities that were recorded to have victimised 26 women since 2014.
She was arrested on Thursday, and faces preliminary charges under Article 11 of the Anti-Trafficking Law which deals with “unlawful removal for cross-border transfer”. If convicted, she faces seven to 15 years in prison.
The report also cited a police statement as saying that the women were in reality forced to work up to 18 hours a day without any rest days.
It is believed that they were rescued and brought back to their homeland after the Cambodian embassy in Kuala Lumpur was alerted about their plight.
In May this year, the Cambodian government lifted a six-year freeze on its citizens working in Malaysia as maids.
The move was made despite labour rights group Tenaganita calling on Cambodia’s leadership to maintain the ban until Malaysia made changes to its institutional framework to ensure the recognition of domestic workers as full-fledged workers, instead of “servants” as it was under the Employment Act at present.
Prime Minister Hun Sen had introduced the ban in 2011 after negative reports emerged over the ill-treatment of maids by Malaysian employees and agents, that included physical and sexual abuse, made to eat unhealthy meals, forced to work overtime and having their wages withheld.
Malaysian Human Resources Minister Richard Riot said in May that Cambodian domestic workers must now undergo at least one month of training before coming to Malaysia.
He said special centres in Cambodia would train them not only in daily household chores but also how to speak simple Malay and English, as well as Malaysian culture, especially in a Muslim family.
“This is to avoid a culture shock when they arrive here,” he had said.
The Phnom Penh Post also reported Cambodia’s foreign affairs ministry as announcing on Friday that it had repatriated three undocumented Cambodians from Malaysia on Aug 30.
The trio were assisted by the International Organisation for Migration before being brought back to Cambodia, it added.