POLICE arrested a 37-year-old Battambang high school teacher on suspicion of sending a homemade hand grenade as an anonymous wedding gift earlier this month.

Police said the man - the bride's former tenth-grade  teacher, Muong Chhavry - was arrested on Wednesday and was being held in pretrial detention while they investigate further.

Sangke district police Chief Chhien Kosa told the Post on Sunday that Muong Chhavry admitted to having sent the grenade. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Muong Chhavry told police he had had a relationship with the bride, Tear Sreyan, for more than two years, and had given her cash and jewellery, but she had chosen to marry another man, Chhien Kosa said.

But the bride denied this, Chhien Kosa said, adding that when police brought the suspect in for interrogation, Tear Sreyan was shocked to see her former teacher.

"Tear Sreyan told us he had wanted a relationship for more than three years from when she was in tenth grade," Chhien Kosa said. "And before her wedding day, she said he called to wish her happiness."

Tear Sreyan, 21, told the police she had declined Muong Chhavry's advances as she was too young. She later left Battambang and moved to work in a factory in Phnom Penh, where she met her husband, Meng Sokun, 27.