A soldier and a military police officer were both released without charges on Saturday after allegedly threatening another man with a gun in Battambang the day before.

According to a police report of the incident, 22-year-old Phal Solysak filed a complaint against army Major Kim Khong, 27, and Phnom Penh military police officer Vuth Bun Suong, 30, for allegedly holding him at gunpoint in Battambang town’s Ratanak commune.

“The young men argued with each other ... but they did not shoot, so we brought them in for questioning and the prosecutor educated them and released them,” Sar Thet, provincial police chief, said yesterday.

“They knew each other. We do not know what problems they had, but they wanted to fight each other,” Thet added, hanging up on a reporter without addressing why charges hadn’t been pressed.

A man reached yesterday who identified himself as Solysak’s father said he and his son just wanted to put the incident behind them. “We solved this problem, we want the case to be finished ... The incident upset him, but we do not want to take it any further. Therefore we ended it, and the other side apologised,” he said.

Local media reported that Solysak had been eating at a restaurant on Friday evening when the two men allegedly approached him and demanded that he end a relationship with a woman. The argument evolved into a physical altercation, before both officials pulled out their guns.