Police arrested five men on Tuesday afternoon for allegedly possessing an illegal AK-47 automatic rifle to hunt wildlife in the Phnom Oral Wildlife Sanctuary.

Kampong Speu’s provincial penal police chief Sam Sak said the suspects, apprehended inside the forest, had the gun and 41 bullets, home made weapons, gunpowder and the skin and bones of a deer that they had allegedly sold for $250.

“We arrested them for possessing an illegal weapon while they were in the forest,” Sak said. “On Tuesday afternoon they were driving their motorbike to trap animals. When we arrived, they tried to hide their weapons. We arrested them, but one of them escaped.”

Sam Sak identified the suspects as Thou Thim, 31, Leng Lim, 38, Lim Hean, 31, Vong Veng, 35, and Bun Rithy, 29, all from Oral district. The men had “confessed” to hunting deer and would be sent to court today, Sak said.