Two off-duty police officers were arrested yesterday, accused of robbing a barber of his motorbike in the capital’s Por Sen Chey district, a police official said.

Mong Samay, 27, and Yim Sophorn, 32, both police officers at the Ministry of Interior, were among a group of men that allegedly pistol-whipped the 19-year-old hairdresser at about 3am on Sunday, district police chief Buon Sam  Ath said.

“They stopped the victim and robbed him of his motorbike,” he said, adding that the barber owned a luxury 2012 Honda vehicle.

“They used a pistol and hit him on his eyebrow before firing a bullet into the ground and threatening more violence if he did not give them his motorbike.”

Police soon became aware of what was happening and surrounded the men, Sam Ath said.

Samay and Sophorn were arrested and the victim’s motorbike was retrieved, but two men of unknown identity fled the scene on another bike.

“Police now are searching for the two suspects who have escaped from police,” Sam Ath said.

It was not clear whether the men who escaped were also police officers.

The barber received serious forehead injuries in the attack, while police seized the gun used to inflict the blows as well as another motorbike.

The two suspects arrested were still being detained at the district police station last night while officers carried out further investigations, Sam Ath said.

They will be sent to Phnom Penh Municipal Court today to be charged, he said.

 

To contact the reporter on this story: Buth Reaksmey Kongkea at [email protected]