A military general imposter who was arrested by police on Saturday has escaped from a hospital in Koh Kong.

Australian-Cambodian suspect David Sim, also known as Khlin, 38, was taken to a district hospital while in police custody on Sunday after he complained of migraine headaches he claimed needed daily medical attention, according to a military official.

Five officers escorted Sim to the hospital around midnight and stood guard outside.

“But he escaped, successfully, after the military police [who escorted him] uncuffed him so he could enter the hospital room,” said an officer from the Koh Kong Provincial Military Police Headquarters who asked not to be named.

“Our military is now working hard to seek his re-arrest in order to bring him to the court,” he said.

Sim was arrested following a complaint filed by Koh Kong villagers asserted that a military man was encroaching on their land and claiming to have bought the plot from another villager.

“He was posing as a fake brigadier general of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces, [but] he did not have any position in the Ministry of National Defense,” said Major Nuon Vutha, commander of Khmrak Phumin Town Military Police.

On Saturday, military officials in Khemrak Phumin Town investigated the accusations that Sim had removed pillars demarcating villagers’ land. After Sim failed to produce land title documents or a military ID number, officials arrested him and confiscated his Land Cruiser, complete with army flags.

Investigating officials said that Sim is an unemployed resident of Phnom Penh, but they did not know his address or any family contact.

Military police are now trying to locate the escaped suspect.

Five men who broke out of Ratanakkiri’s provincial court last week while awaiting trial for robbery, murder and sexual assault, also remain on the loose.