Canadian Students Stuck in Cambodia after Passports are Stolen in Bag Snatch

[CEOCambodiaNews]

Brampton students stranded in Cambodia on school trip after passport theft
The students were in Phnom Penh when a person on a motorcycle snatched the bag containing their passports.
Katherine DeClerq, CTV News Toronto
Published Monday, December 17, 2018 6:13PM EST
A group of students from a school in Brampton are stuck in Cambodia after their passports were stolen during a social justice trip to the region.

The 10 students from St. Edmund Campion Catholic Secondary School left for their trip on Dec. 8 and were scheduled to return on Sunday, but hit an unexpected delay.

“They are doing some work in a rural community, helping work on a community building project and also there is a cultural aspect to the trip,” said Bruce Campbell, General Manager of Communications and Community Relations with the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board.
Campbell said that the students were on a sight-seeing day trip in Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh, on Saturday when their passports were stolen.

All of the students’ documents were in a bag being held by a supervising staff member at the time, Campbell said.

“Somebody came by on a motorcycle, snatched the bag and (they were) gone,” he said. “This one sounded right out of a Mission Impossible or Jason Bourne movie.”

Campbell said the school has facilitated a number of social justice trips at different locations around the world, but nothing like this has every happened before.

“Part of the security is to keep everything with one of the adults. It’s a bit of a wild card. You never know what could happen,” he said.

Cheynne Myers told CTV News Toronto that one the students on the trip is her classmate, but that the school hadn’t mentioned the passport theft.

“It was weird that the school didn’t mention anything,” she said. “We do prayer at the end of the day and the chaplain mentioned that it was Christmas time and it was a big chaotic, but no one mentioned that we should pray for the people, for the camping students in Cambodia right now who just got their passports stolen.”

According to Campbell, the school board has been in contact with the Canadian consulate in Cambodia and the Canadian embassy in Thailand to try and get the students emergency passports, but the process is taking some time.

As of Monday morning, he could not provide an estimated time for when the students will be able to return home.

“One of the problems is that they are closed over the weekend, so staff at this end and also the staff on the trip have been in contact, trying to expedite some emergency passports for the group to return as home as soon as possible.”

https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/brampton-stu ... -1.4221764

[Kuroneko]

"All of the students’ documents were in a bag being held by a supervising staff member at the time, Campbell said."

“Somebody came by on a motorcycle, snatched the bag and (they were) gone,” he said. “This one sounded right out of a Mission Impossible or Jason Bourne movie.”

Campbell said the school has facilitated a number of social justice trips at different locations around the world, but nothing like this has every happened before.

“Part of the security is to keep everything with one of the adults. It’s a bit of a wild card. You never know what could happen,” he said."

[Anchor Moy]

Campbell said that the students were on a sight-seeing day trip in Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh, on Saturday when their passports were stolen.

"All of the students’ documents were in a bag being held by a supervising staff member at the time, Campbell said."

“Somebody came by on a motorcycle, snatched the bag and (they were) gone,” he said. “This one sounded right out of a Mission Impossible or Jason Bourne movie.”

Campbell said the school has facilitated a number of social justice trips at different locations around the world, but nothing like this has every happened before.

“Part of the security is to keep everything with one of the adults. It’s a bit of a wild card. You never know what could happen,” he said."

Indeed. Seems like the designated "responsible adults"didn't do their homework. They seem totally taken by surprise that you can get your bag snatched in PP. And why didn't they leave the passports in the hotel safe instead of carrying them around on a sight-seeing trip ?
Never mind. Nobody hurt. Hopefully, lesson learnt.

[davegorman]

What a strange article.
They didn’t tell us to pray for the people who got their passports stolen?
It’s not even relevant.

Social justice. Hmm.

[phuketrichard]

emergency passport issued in one day
hardly stuck

Issue new passport in Bangkok, courier it over, all is good.

[CEOCambodiaNews]

Brampton students stuck in Cambodia set to come home for the holidays
19 December 2018

Brampton students who were stranded in Cambodia after their passports were stolen last weekend have received their emergency documentation and are scheduled to return home in time for the holidays, the Dufferin-Peel Catholic School Board said.

The students were scheduled to fly back to Canada on Dec. 16.

On Wednesday, Campbell confirmed that the students have secured emergency temporary passports and exit visas.

“Barring any unforeseen issues, (the students) are scheduled to fly out Friday to arrive on Saturday morning,” he said in an email.
https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/brampton-stu ... -1.4224452

[RickyBobby]

Serves those social justice types right.

[Captain]

Serves those social justice types right.

That's right, Ricky. What's a social justice trip anyway?

That responsible adult should have kept the passports next to his ballsack, as suggested in another thread. Safest place.

[RickyBobby]

A few years ago, a bunch of passports got stolen off a bus while in transit. I forget all the details.

[khmerhamster]

Serves those social justice types right.

Yeah, damn those coming here to help improve impoverished communities.

social justice
noun
justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society.

Bastards! They deserve all they get - plus more.