Police in Tbong Khmum province were working yesterday to tighten the noose on four suspected armed robbers after the quartet robbed a local timber depot of $40,000 in cash and jewellery on Sunday night.

O’Reang-ou district police chief Loeung Rotha said yesterday that authorities were surrounding cashew and cassava fields where the robbers are thought to be hiding.

According to the homeowners and workers, the assailants rushed into the home brandishing guns at about 8pm, Rotha said. They tied up the husband, Srey Sophal, and threatened his wife, Suy Vanny, and children into showing them the cashbox, which they then forced open with tools.

Brak Bunnun, deputy chief of provincial police, said authorities had recovered the tools, and were able to identify two of the men as known ex-cons thanks to CCTV footage.