Nine men have been arrested in Kampong Chhnang province’s Kampong Tralach district for their alleged involvement in the gang rape of a 20-year-old garment worker in a rice field on Wednesday, district police chief Hul Veasna said yesterday.

Veasna said the suspects could face up to 30 years in prison if convicted, but “it depends on the court to do further study and investigation”.

According to Veasna, the nine suspects, aged 19 to 25, had taken the victim and her friends, aged 17 to 19, to a riverbank to drink.

When it got late, the women asked to go home and the men agreed, Veasna said. But about half way, eight of the men stopped and allegedly raped the 20-year-old, while her two friends rode ahead on the bike of the ninth suspect. Realising something was wrong, they told the man to turn back and went to retrieve their friend.

After persuading the men to take them home, Veasna said, the women filed complaints with police, who sent the men to court.