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The Underworld Podcast

Cambodia’s Untouchable Gangster-in-Chief

The Underworld Podcast

The Underworld Podcast

True Crime, Documentary, Society & Culture, History

4.6871 Ratings

🗓️ 30 September 2025

⏱️ 69 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Hun To, the nephew of Cambodia’s former PM, is also the ruler of a criminal empire stretching from illegal logging and Triad-run casinos, to corrupt Chinese investment and — ALLEGEDLY — people and heroin trafficking.Sean met Nathan Southern and Lindsey Kennedy at a Saigon studio to discuss a crazy tale of how the leaders of a small and economically weak nation have gotten wildly rich playing off global powers, and proving that for a small number of mobsters, you really can be too big to fail. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

You know, when I started this podcast, it felt like I had to become 10 people overnight.

0:05.3

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dot co.k.u.k slash glassbox. Shopify.com.com.com.com. It's 2004 in Melbourne, Australia.

1:08.4

And Copsar, it finally sings, onto Honto. The magnate, a nephew of

1:13.8

Cambodian Premier Hun Sen, has built his business empire in one of the shadiest ways on earth,

1:20.5

chopping down lumber and timber from Cambodia's lush forests, then shipping it out,

1:26.0

some might say trafficking it, to China and, on occasion, Australia.

1:32.0

Those who speak out against the destruction at home, will they end up in prison or in exile?

1:37.5

Or, like one local reporter in 1994, dead.

1:42.7

But timber, Aussie cops ashore, isn't just the only thing Hentot is getting into their country.

1:49.0

They launched Operation Ili Pango in 2002 to investigate heroin shipments smuggled inside the wood,

1:56.0

which is getting out onto the streets of Australia's biggest cities, its proceeds washed via Chinese triads, and, in one case,

...

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