Sihanoukville: Fifty-one South Korean nationals were apprehended during a joint police crackdown at a criminal complex in Cambodia earlier this week, with one Korean man freed from confinement, officials said Wednesday.

According to Yonhap News Agency, South Korean and Cambodian police authorities took the 51 South Koreans into custody for suspected involvement in scam operations and rescued a 20-something man who had been confined and tortured during Tuesday's raid in Sihanoukville.

The move comes as South Korea has been ramping up efforts to combat crimes targeting South Koreans in Cambodia, such as online scams, following the torture and death of a Korean college student lured to a scam center in the Southeast Asian country in August.

This week's crackdown took place after a joint South Korean and Cambodian police task force received a report on Dec. 4 that a South Korean man in his 20s was being held captive.

The joint operation involved South Korean police officers and National Intelligence Service agents as well as some 100 Cambodian police commandos. Police authorities from both countries recently agreed on procedures to swiftly dispatch officers in the event of an emergency situation.

"From protecting overseas Korean nationals to taking down a large criminal organization, this operation was a joint large-scale rescue and arrest mission involving both countries' police from the Korea-Cambodia Joint Task Force for Koreans," the NPA said.