A group of provincial officials and an NGO worker who got together and set up a fake police checkpoint to earn some bribe money were arrested along National Road 62 in Kampong Thom province yesterday.

According to Deputy Provincial Governor Kong Vimean, the group was picked up after authorities got wind of their ruse, which was set up along the road in Kampong Svay district, and shut it down.

On the orders of Governor Uth Sam Orn, police arrested the men, four of whom work for a department under the provincial authority that he declined to name, while one works for the environment department and the other works for a local NGO.

“It is normal that some bad individuals take the opportunity to create [an illegal checkpoint like this]. In cases where people report to [us] that there are bad individuals creating problems in society, we will not tolerate it. We will always crack down,” Vimean said.

The group are being questioned and investigated by the court, he said.