Police in Daun Penh district have arrested two men suspected of being involved in a series of high-profile robberies in the capital over the past few months, Phnom Penh deputy police chief Pol Pithey said yesterday.

The men are suspected to have been members of a gang that robbed two Savimex Oil employees of US$60,000 near the Council for the Development of Cambodia on February 7, Pol Pithey said.

The gang is also believed to be responsible for a jewellery heist perpetrated on a soldier at a hair salon in Daun Penh district in October.

The gang may also be responsible for the robbery of well-known Cambodian comedian Neay Koy, also known as Chuong Chi, who was stripped of roughly $40,000 worth of jewellery in Phnom Penh’s Tuol Kork district on January 14.  

“We have not yet concluded that the gang robbed Neay Koy, but we will continue the investigation in order to apprehend them,” Pol Pithey said, adding that authorities had seized three guns from the suspects that were believed to have been used in the robberies.

Pol Pithey declined to identify the suspects in light of the ongoing investigation, though he said police had apprehended the men in two separate locations in the capital on Friday and are preparing to send them to Phnom Penh Municipal Court.

Neay Koy, 57, said he welcomed the attention to his case, even months after he filed the original complaint.

“On TV, I have played a comedian who gives lessons about robberies, but I never thought it would happen to me,” he said with a laugh, adding that he no longer shows off his jewellery in public.