A court has ordered police to reinvestigate a case involving two   Indonesian tourists accused of stealing more than US$60,000, who claim they were not in Cambodia when the theft was carried out.

Holidaymakers Esamel Ibrahim, 32, and Dainavil Saputra, 27, were put on trial last month over claims they stole thousands of dollars from a Phnom Penh couple.

The men allegedly put nails under the couple’s car tyres while the pair visited a Daun Penh district branch of ANZ Royal bank on February 24.

They are suspected of then grabbing US$61,300 – earmarked for purchasing supplies for Cambodian soldiers – from the woman after the car drew to a halt with a flat tyre.

The men, however, claimed at trial that they had only entered Cambodia between February 5 to 9 and from March 15 to 21.

At Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday, judge Chea Sok Heang postponed a verdict due to “a lack of evidence”.

“It is ordered to the police involved to carry out more re-investigation and research in preparation for future hearings,” he said yesterday.

Authorities were also asked to examine “whether they could come to Cambodia via other border checkpoints without using their passports” between February 5 and March 20 this year.

Ibrahim and Saputra will be detained in prison until their next hearing.