A military police officer was arrested and his accomplice, an RCAF officer, is on the run after they went on a drunken rampage at a club in Pursat province’s capital on Monday night, police said yesterday.

The two officers are accused of beating the manager and a security guard of Sla Meas Nightclub and firing shots into the air because the club was full and the manager was unable to secure a table for them, Chhorn Seng, deputy police chief of Pursat town, told the Post.

“They got angry with the club owner, who did not prepare a table for them for their drinks. So one of them pulled out his pistol from his waist and hit the club owner’s head,” Seng said.

“When a security guard came to intervene, both men also caught him and beat him [on his head and body].” The RCAF officer, Captain Aun, then fired rounds of bullets into the air, he added.

Military police officer Keo Rith and Aun appeared to already be intoxicated, Seng said.

Brigadier General Sarun Chanthy, chief of the Pursat Police Commissioner, said that, based on complaints filed by the victims, police arrested Rith yesterday.

Aun, on the other hand, had already fled.

In September, Prime Minister Hun Sen told provincial governors that powerful officials and their friends and families must be punished if they fire their guns or wield other weapons in restaurants and other public places.

“There should be no risk to anyone’s life just because they want to eat something with their family and friends,” the premier said.

“But many have to run and escape from groups of gangsters who open fire.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Buth Reaksmey Kongkea at [email protected]