Kandal Military Police sent a man to military court on Monday after nabbing him for posing as a Military Police officer.

The latest arrest comes after six suspects, detained in Phnom Penh for masquerading as Military Police officers last week, were charged.

The six were believed to have been running a fake recruitment scam from the capital’s Tuol Kork district. A seventh suspect, believed to be the ringleader, fled before the arrests were made.

Military spokesperson Eng Hy on Sunday said the suspects had claimed ranks up to lieutenant general.

Criminal Investigation Office chief at the Kandal Military Police Uy Sovanna said ON Monday that Sam Piseth, 28, was arrested in Takhmao town on Saturday and sent to court on Monday for illegally wearing a Military Police uniform.

“He said he loved the uniform and so he bought it and wore it sometimes. He said with the uniform he could help his relatives when they were in trouble.

“When we saw him in uniform, we were suspicious because he was not recognised as part of the military in this district,” Sovanna said.

A source close to the military court, who asked to remain anonymous, said two suspects detained in Phnom Penh last week had been charged with falsely recruiting military personnel under Article 463 of the Criminal Code, which carries a prison term of between 15 and 30 years.

The other four charged were people taken in by the scam who were arrested for possessing illegal uniforms.

They were charged under Article 612 and face between one and 12 months behind bars.

Brigadier General Kong Setharin of the National Police told a press conference on Monday that the three ringleaders had admitted planning to falsely recruit up to 200 military personnel, but they had only cheated 66 people, including five women, at the time of their arrests.