An armed robbery in Tuol Kork district yesterday morning ended in tragedy when a chauffeur was shot to death and culprits made off with thousands of dollars belonging to his passenger, police said yesterday.

Authorities believe that the as-yet-unidentified robbers set their plan into motion not long after Chinese businessman Chen Ching Ping left Naga World Casino around 3am yesterday carrying $18,000 in cash winnings.

Ping was accompanied by his driver, Hu Chen Chang, a 27-year-old Cambodian man whom police said also served as Ping’s interpreter.

Chang took the wheel and started in the direction of Tuol Kork district, where his boss was staying in a rental home while on business.

They had no idea that a pair of men on a motorbike had been following them all the way from the casino.

Police investigators believe that the wanted robbers had an “agent” inside the casino.

This person could have watched Ping amass his winnings throughout the night and tipped off the men outside as the Chinese national left.

Whether the pair planned to kill or whether it was a robbery gone wrong at the last second remains unclear.

Sun Bunri, the police chief of Teuk La’ak III commune, said that according to an eyewitness, the confrontation took place right as Chang opened the driverside door and stepped out.

One of the men went up to him, put a pistol to his neck and fired, killing the driver instantly.

The thieves also shot at Chang’s boss, but missed.

After yanking Ping’s winnings out of the car, the armed assailants fled.

Police arrived on the scene and contacted a member of Chang’s family in Sen Sok district in Phnom Penh, where funeral arrangements are under way.

There are no leads as to the identities of the gunmen, and an investigation is underway.

“The police are searching for the robbers,” the police chief of Tuol Kork district, Hout Chanyaran, told the Post yesterday.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kim Sarom at [email protected]