Banteay Meanchey provincial Military Police sent a 44-year-old man to the military court in Phnom Penh after arresting him for wearing a fake two-star general uniform in Poipet town on March 8.
Theam Pheakdey, chief of information and security at the provincial Military Police, said that the suspect lives in O’Kanthor commune’s O’Kanthor Khang Tbong village of Kampong Thom province’s Stung Sen town.
The Military Police arrested him in Poipet commune’s Palilay II village and he was then sent to the military court for further questioning.
Pheakdey said the arrest was made following a complaint made by villagers in Poipet town. After receiving the complaint, the Military Police sought legal coordination from deputy prosecutor Men Hong at the military court.
“After arresting him, Military Police officers questioned him to build a case file and then sent him to the military court for further action,” he said.
Pheakdey declined to elaborate any further on the matter.
According to a Military Police officer who asked not to be named, the suspect did not serve in the army or as a civil servant in any capacity. He confessed that he had cheated some villagers by disguising himself as a two-star general and that he had bought the uniform and taken photos of himself wearing it as props to show to vulnerable victims to trick them.
He further confessed that before this arrest he had already cheated a few people out of some money. He told the victims that he held the rank of a two-star general in the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces and if the victims had any problems at all he could help them – for a fee.
The photo and uniform made the victims believe that the man was really a military official and had erased their suspicions entirely, according to the suspect.
Military court spokesman Sar Sareth could not be reached for comment on March 9.
