Police in Koh Kong province on Tuesday arrested the 15-year-old boy suspected of killing his 12-year-old neighbour in the province’s Dangtung district.

The young male was arrested in Tachab village, in Koh Kong’s Mondul Seima district, shortly after he disappeared from his Khemarak Phoumin town home after the boy was found dead on Saturday.

Nget Sovannara, Khemarak Phoumin deputy police chief, said that despite the cooperation of his parents, it took police three days to find the suspect, who was sent to Koh Kong Provincial Police station.

“The suspect admitted he stabbed the boy because he was angry after the victim and five or six others hit him while he was eating. He said he grabbed a knife he saw under the table and stabbed the victim,” Sovannara said.

James McCabe, director of operations at the Child Protection Unit, an NGO working on the case, said: “It was excellent work by Koh Kong police, in what are a tragic and concerning set of circumstances, to have made an arrest at such an early stage.

“There was significant concern the suspect would have fled to a neighbouring country, making his arrest and the investigation more difficult.”