The power of the mob is not always diminished by the presence of a firearm, as two men learned this week.

Police said the suspects followed a pair of women from the market to their home in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district on Wednesday and tried to stick them up outside of the front gate.

Firing a warning shot after the women resisted only alerted villagers. Their curiosity exploded into collective violence against the suspects, one of whom was badly injured in the beating that ensued and then arrested. The other escaped. KOH SANTEPEAP