A former in Pursat’s Phnom Kravanh district unearthed 12 cases of machine gun and rifle ammunition while ploughing in Prangil commune yesterday morning, local officials said.

Prangil commune police chief Ouk Chhean yesterday said that 41-year-old farmer Aing Soksan was preparing his field to plant cassava when he came across the cache.

“He was on his tractor and hit the cases and thought maybe they were cases of gold,” Chhean said, adding that Soksan was surprised and disappointed to find bullets upon opening a case, and called police to report the find.

Chhean said that 11 cases were found to contain 935 rounds for a 12.7-millimetre heavy machine gun while one case contained 700 AK-47 rounds.

“Half of those bullets remained good and usable and they might have been hidden by Khmer Rouge troops during the war time,” he said.

According to Chhean, who is a former soldier, the 12.7mm rounds are capable of taking down aircraft at a range of 500 metres.

The cases have since been taken to the Phnom Kravanh district police station for safe keeping.