‘If anyone objects to this union, handcuff now . . .’  

A young man’s pending nuptials were nipped in the bud last week thanks to a minor technicality: he was already married. Police in Kampong Cham’s Chheung Prey district said they arrested the 22-year-old last week after his wife – who’d been abandoned in Kampong Speu with their young daughter – filed a complaint. Police got the word just in time to object to the second wedding and send him to the court, where he will presumably be educated on the ins and outs of divorce. Nokorwat

Rookie bag snatcher snatched by capital cops

An 18-year-old learned a tough lesson on Thursday when the “brains” of his purse-snatching operation left him holding the bag. Police, who said the Phnom Penh teen had been talked into the act by his older friend, snagged his hood when their first bag snatching ended with them wrecking their moto during the getaway. The 20-year-old who cooked up the scheme escaped. Kampuchea Thmey

Garage-robbing ingrate in great deal of trouble

An out-of-work 25-year-old bit the hand that fed him last week, taking up a mechanic on his offer of a job and a place to stay, only to steal the man’s motorbike. Police said the proprietor, who ran a garage in the capital’s Daun Penh district, had asked the man to watch the place while he left for the provinces. When he returned, the employee – and his bike – were both gone. Fortunately for the owner, the thief spent his time tooling around Phnom Penh on the stolen moto. He’s since been arrested and confessed. Kampuchea Thmey

Hit-and-run suspect couldn’t run fast enough

A Taxi driver is in police custody after leaving the scene of a brutal accident last week in Kampong Chhnang’s Samaki Meanchey district. Police said the victim was attempting to execute a left turn on his moto, only to be hit by a “speeding” taxi and sent to hospital with serious injuries to his head and legs. The driver fled the scene, but district police called ahead to Kampong Chhnang town police who picked him up an hour later. Nokorwat

High-speed chase has high-volume resolution

A Kampong Cham resident lost and retrieved his moto in the space of an eventful Thursday evening in the province’s Ponhea Krek district. Police said the man foolishly left his keys in the ignition, a prospect that proved too tempting for an 18-year-old habitual moto thief. The suspect took off but was tailed by the victim, who gave chase on his friend’s bike, shouting at the top of his lungs the entire time. The racket caught the attention of passing cops, who made the arrest. Nokorwat

Translated by Phak Seangly