Five men accused of masquerading as joint forces, setting up a roadblock and then robbing unsuspecting motorists, were arrested yesterday when actual joint forces raided their village in Battambang province.

Also arrested were two women – a wife and a girlfriend of two of the arrested men – who allegedly harboured and hid the men when police came looking for them previously.

Head of the provincial criminal research unit, Lach Bros, said the men confessed that this was the fifth or sixth time they had set up an illegal roadblock.