A Choam Chao commune police chief said yesterday that an officer from an elite municipal police unit was arrested Sunday night for allegedly threatening to shoot his wife and two children, only to be picked up at the Por Sen Chey police station soon afterwards by his superior.
Ross Sarady, Choam Chao I commune police chief, said the arrest was made in the neighbouring commune, though Choam Chao II Commune Police Chief San Pet claimed he was unaware of the incident.
Sarady said he did not know the name of the suspect despite being among those who responded to the incident. He added that the suspect is a member of the municipal police’s Intervention Unit. Allegedly under the influence of drugs, the man is accused of threatening to kill his wife and children just before midnight on Sunday.
“There were no gunshots; he only pointed the gun at his wife to threaten her,” Sarady said. “Then his wife called police for help. His wife said her husband was a policeman and had used drugs.”
Under a 2016 sub-decree, police and security forces are prohibited from keeping their guns with them while off duty, unless they are high-ranking officials such as colonels. Sarady said he did not know if the gun was provided by the officer’s unit.
The suspect was arrested and taken to the Por Sen Chey district police station, Sarady said. In a video of the arrest, the man tries to cover his face with a shirt, with some officers at one point helping to protect his identity.
Chea Sovann, Por Sen Chey district police chief, also claimed to be unaware of the suspect’s name as no “report” of the incident had been produced.
He said the man’s “boss” had picked him up from the police station to discipline him internally, adding that his office would not forward the case to court as it would now be handled by the Intervention Unit.
“He has a unit, and his unit came to handcuff him and took him to his unit to receive disciplinary punishment,” he said.
Calls to Phuong Malay, deputy municipal police chief and head of the Intervention Unit, were unsuccessful, with a man responding to Malay’s listed number claiming to be someone else.
