Dec 9: Police arrest Kao Nguon, 48, and Thach Phaly, 33, with 0.6 kilogram of black opium while they are waiting at the river bank near the Phsar Kandal market in Phnom Penh for their customers to come and buy their goods.

Dec 9: Hun Peng, 34, and his seven-year-old son are beaten with a stick and killed by unidentified robbers who take their small fishing motorboat in Boribo district, Kompong Chhnang. Police are investigating.

Dec 10: The wife of a taxi driver is drowned and killed when their car, along with two others and two motorcycles, are knocked into the river off a ferry at Neak Loeung, 60km southeast of Phnom Penh, by a truck with broken brakes.

Dec 10: Two women from Prey Veng, aged 23 and 32, are rescued from a brothel in Phnom Penh's Toul Kork a day after they were cheated into going there. The two, who came to Phnom Penh looking for work, say an unidentified woman took them to the brothel after promising to hire them as servants in her house. Doeun Soeun, the brothel madam, confesses that she brought the two women for 150,000 riel. The police are called after the two girls quarrel with the brothel owner when she forces them to come out and receive guests.

Dec 14: Ven Thoeun, 28, is sentenced by the Phnom Penh court to 15 years' imprisonment for attempted murder and robbery. Police say on June 14 Thoeun and a collaborator, Ren, carrying hand guns and grenades, opened fire and killed Chay Muy, 62, when he tries to stop them robbing his Phnom Penh house. Ren was shot dead by police while Thoeun was wounded and arrested.

Dec 14: Two offenders with a hand gun rob Chan Boravy, 22, of her Crystal motorcycle while she is dropping her sister at the Beong Keng Kang school in Khan Chamkamon, Phnom Penh, at 6:40 am.

Dec 14: Ten people are wounded when two hand grenades are exploded by a gang of three offenders robbing gold stores at the Sihanoukville market. One man is arrested.

Dec 15: The provincial police stop three Vietnamese traders trying to illegally export animals, including four crocodiles, ten boas, one cobra and 40 tortoises, from Pursat to Vietnam. The three reportedly escaped from custody the following day.

Dec 16: A tractor driver is killed, and seven other farmers injured, when their tractor hits an anti-tank mine in Veal Tapong village, Banteay Mean Chey town. Police blame the Khmer Rouge is responsible for laying the mine.

Dec 16: A civilian and a government soldier are killed, and 20 other people wounded, when some 50 Khmer Rouge guerrillas attack two villages in Treng commune, Battambang, at 5 am. Five houses are burnt down and five meters of the O Andong bridge is blown up. Another gang of about 20 Khmer Rouge enters Snung village, Banon district, and kills one civilian and wounds two others.

Dec 18: Maj Hul Sambo, 35, a Royal Cambodian Army Forces soldier explodes a hand grenade, killing himself, at his house in Phnom Penh at 7 pm. Heng Sokhom, his wife, says Sambo had had a strong verbal conflict with two other friends when they were drunk and threatened to explode the grenade. His friends ran off and five minutes later heard the explosion.

Dec 19: Russeikeo district police stop and seize five sacks of tortoises from a trader at the Phsar Toch port in Phnom Penh. Long Poue, 30, confesses that he is taking the animals from Battambang and Siem Reap to be sold in Vietnam, and that he normally makes three or four such trips with four to six sacks of tortoises to the neighboring country. On Dec 21, police capture four other sacks of some 160 kilograms of tortoises smuggled by the same trader at the same river port.

Dec 19: Sok Tina, 19, hangs and kills himself at his house near the Bak Touk school in Sangkat Orussei II, Khan 7 Makara, Phnom Penh. Yang Phany, his father, says Tina had a chronic illness.

Dec 21: Some 70 Khmer Rouge guerrillas raid three villages along Route 5 about 13 kilometers northwest of Battambang town at 2am. Fighting between the Khmer Rouge and government forces leaves three militias injured, while a bridge and five meters of railroad are blown up by the Khmer Rouge. Three houses are burnt down, and three cows and other villagers' property are looted.

Dec 21: Chan Thar, 27, a vagabond woman buying and selling stolen clothing, is stabbed and killed at midnight by another vagabond while sleeping near Wat Mohamontrey, south of Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh. Police say this is a case of malice and are still hunting the murderer.

- Summarized by Moeun Chhean Nariddh from Khmer newspapers