A border police official was arrested on Friday night for allegedly chopping off four of his co-worker’s fingers with a machete in Pursat province’s Veal Veng district, police said yesterday.

Theang Leng, the Veal Veng district police chief, identified the police official as Chan Dara, 32, a member of the Land Border Division’s Unit 825.

Leng said that before the incident, which took place at about 10pm, Dara had been drinking with his co-workers for more than five hours.

Once the officers were drunk, the suspect started an argument with people living near the unit’s office, and his friend, victim Krouch Vanak, 32, tried to calm him down.

Dara, however, continued to argue with the villagers, and Vanak ultimately dragged him into the base and slapped him, angering Dara further.

“The victim replied, ‘If you are angry with me, you can slap me back and I won’t mind’,” Leng said.

“But the suspect said, ‘I will not slap you, but I will slash you to death’. Suddenly, the suspect grabbed the machete and slashed the victim.”

Vanak raised his hand in an attempt to deflect the blade, which chopped through his palm just above the thumb.

Police arrested Dara on the spot and sent him to court on preliminary charges of intentional violence.

According to Leng, Vanak is currently in hospital in Thailand, where doctors will try to reattach his fingers.