A man allegedly admitted to murdering his illegal logging partner with a homemade rifle on Tuesday in Preah Vihear’s Chey Sen district, according to local police.

Tiem Sang Kream, Chey Sen district police chief, said suspect Dy Choeun, 40, has been detained for questioning in preparation to be sent to provincial court. “Our authorities are skilful and managed to investigate and identify the suspect,” Kream said, adding “it took about four hours for the suspect to confess”.

The suspect told police that a few years ago, he and the victim, Sim Thy, 27, were hired to illegally log timber together, but their wages were unequally shared between them.

“The suspect always hinted that he would kill the victim one day,” Kream said, claiming villagers knew about the dispute but nobody ever reported it to authorities.

The day before the murder, the suspect went to the victim’s cottage twice, but only his wife was home. On Monday night, the suspect made the rifle out of wood and steel, then carried it to the cottage, and upon seeing the victim sleeping alone, shot him dead.