PHNOM PENH - Three of four Cambodian women who had been trafficked to Malaysia to work in the sex trade have returned home, said a women's action group.

A coordinator for the Cambodian Women's Crisis Center (CWCC), said three women, aged 16 to 18 arrived safely in Phnom Penh Monday after being held in a Kuala Lumpur detention centre for nearly a year.

"We have worked a lot in cooperating between the government and this organisation for a long time to bring them back," Nop Sarin Sreyroth told AFP .

The women are believed to have been smuggled by a human trafficking ring and were taken overland to Malaysia through Thailand last February and March, Nop Sarin said.

Mu Sochua, Cambodia's minister of women's affairs, had reportedly asked the Malaysian government to uphold a regional trafficking agreement and prevent the women, who are ethnic Vietnamese, from being tried as illegal immigrants.

The minister could not be reached for comment.

No visa needed for Cambodians

The fourth woman, who recently gave birth to a baby, remains in Malaysia on doctor's orders, Sreyroth said, adding that she would return to Cambodia later.

Last year, Cambodian police arrested a Cambodian man and his two wives for trafficking ethnic Vietnamese to Malaysia.

Four girls aged 13 to 15, and several women up to 22 years-old were rescued.

It is believed the traffickers had sought fake Cambodian documentation for the victims.

A Vietnamese passport holder requires a visa for entry to Malaysia, while Cambodians do not, police here said, prompting concern that a possible new trafficking route - Vietnam through Cambodia to Malaysia - had emerged to exploit the visa regulations.

Rights groups say Cambodian police have stepped up a crackdown on paedophilia and the sex industry in general by closing brothels, jailing pimps and brothel owners, and charging foreigners with violating childsex laws. - AFP