Police raided the house of a Cambodian senator accused of laundering money through Thailand.

Officers stormed the 5,000 square foot property in Trat province to seize assets linked to tycoon and alleged transnational scam operator Ly Yong Phat, who has close links to former Khmer Rouge henchman Hun Sen.

Footage shows the Cyber Crime Investigation Division 2 sweeping through the two-storey detached house with a gilded gate and fence grilles, on November 9.

Ly Yong Phat, a close ally of dictator Hun Sen who helped carry out the genocide of his own people in the 1970s before defecting to Vietnam, also owned an adjacent six-room apartment, with the rent used for household expenses.

Police interrogated Cambodian maid Soei On, 37, who claimed she had not seen the homeowner in three years.

The operation was part of coordinated raids across 36 sites in Bangkok and Trat targeting Ly Yong Phat. Officials said 90 million baht (2.1 million GBP) of assets were frozen.

Four warrants were also issued for individuals within the network, including Chokchai Suphapha, 37, and three Chinese nationals, on suspicion of conspiracy to commit money laundering and joint money laundering.

Ly Yong Phat is a powerful Cambodian senator and businessman who heads the LYP Group - a conglomerate involved in casinos, tourism, tobacco, sugar, and electricity.

He was appointed personal adviser to former Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen in December 2022. Hun Sen is said to have overseen the murder of thousands of political opponents and critics since taking power in the 1990s.

Recently, he has drawn scrutiny and sanctions over forced labour and human trafficking in online scam operations linked to his companies.

An investigation was launched under the administration of former Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who prioritised cracking down on call centre scams, online gambling, and digital fraud as a matter of national security.

Extensive investigations reportedly found evidence that Ly Yong Phat and his associates were involved in a structured scam operation, with an organised system of profit-sharing and money laundering.

Cambodia has become a hotspot for call centre scam compounds, where thousands of workers, many from Southeast Asia, are coerced into running online fraud operations.

Authorities have been launching crackdowns in border towns to dismantle the criminal networks, which some researchers claim is worth the equivalent of 50 per cent of the country's GDP.