A man was arrested for producing fake drivers licences and vehicle certification documents in the capital’s Dangkor district on Friday, police said yesterday.

According to Prey Sar commune police chief Sum Sary, authorities had arrested 21-year-old student Hot Chen after a tip-off and demanded that he direct them to where the documents were being produced.

“When we reached the place, we found hundreds of fake documents for cars in Phnom Penh and the provinces, and complete equipment for producing [those documents],” he said, saying the set-up was situated in a typical flat. “I saw four chairs, computers, printers, and other machines.”

Just before his arrest, Chen managed to make a hasty phone call saying “they’re arresting me!” Sary added.

“Then he directed us to the place … [which took] between 15 to 20 minutes, [presumably to allow] his team to run away,” he added.

Despite this, deputy district police chief Nov Tith said Chen had denied working with accomplices and insisted that he worked alone.

“He said he did it alone and that he learned how to do it in Vietnam. He came back to run the house, which has been in operation for seven months,” he said. “According to him, he sells many documents to four customers a day … and earns up to thousands of dollars a day.”

Chen will be sent to Phnom Penh Municipal Court for questioning today.