PREAH Sihanouk provincial police on Monday arrested four people during a raid on a restaurant they said had been host to illegal gambling for several months, but the owner of the establishment has not yet been detained.

Tak Vantha, the provincial police chief, said Monday’s raid had come at the end of a lengthy investigation into the restaurant, located in Sihanoukville’s Commune 4. During the raid, he added, enough evidence was gathered to arrest the four gamblers.

“We are still interrogating them at the provincial police station before we send them to court for further investigation,” he said.

He said that court officials had already discussed possible sentences for the four gamblers, and that these would range from “between one week and one month”.

The owner, he said, would likely be imprisoned for between one and five years.

“We are now working extremely hard to hunt for the owner of the restaurant, who is rude for running this illegal gambling parlour,” he said. “We are requesting that top-level authorities and the provincial court shut down this restaurant.”