A former policeman at the Ministry of Interior’s Anti-Drug Department was sent to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday for drug use and robbery in the capital’s Por Sen Chey district.

Ministry of Interior deputy crime department chief Cheav Vibol said the suspect, 37, was arrested on Sunday by anti-drug officials and questioned before being sent to court.

Anti-Drug Department deputy director Van Kosal said on Monday that the suspect worked for the department but was dismissed about a year ago for repeated disciplinary violations.

“The suspect confessed that he used to take drugs,” Kosal said. However, he could not provide details of the robbery case as it fell out of his department’s jurisdiction.

An investigation found that the suspect would also wear a police uniform, take photos of himself and post them on Facebook, he said.

“A photo on Facebook shows him taking drugs. I asked my officials to question him about it and had his urine tested. The results showed drugs in his system, though I am unsure about the other crime he was accused of [robbery],” he said.

A December 20 complaint from a 36-year-old robbery victim Um Rithy, which was obtained by The Post on Monday, said three people – including the suspect – approached him while he was sleeping outside his home in Por Sen Chey district’s Samraong Kraom commune.

The trio got out of the car. The suspect then fired his pistol once into the air and proceeded to rob Rithy of $3,200 and 280,000 riel ($70) in cash and a mobile phone. The three then got back into the car and sped off.