The stepchild of an Anlong Veng district deputy police chief was one of four alleged serial burglars arrested on Sunday night by Oddar Meanchey provincial anti-economic crime police and local authorities.

Sreng Reasey, deputy chief of the anti-economic crime police, identified the 14-year-old suspect as the adopted child of Huot Sary, the Anlong Veng district deputy police chief.

Two of the other three suspects are also minors, aged 14 and 15, while the third was identified as Te Bo, 20.

Reasey said the four were arrested while trying to break into a phone shop in Trapaing Brei commune.

Yesterday, Sary confirmed that the suspect is his adopted child and lived with him since age 5, but three years ago, he sent the teen to live with his mother due to disobedience.

“Since then, I have no relation with him anymore,” he said.

According to Reasey, the four “are active burglars [that] used to break into some houses in the village, but the authorities had inadequate evidence to arrest them”.

Police, with the help of phone-shop owner Ou Roen and his relatives, caught the quartet as they were allegedly attempting to steal a motorbike and 75 mobile phones from Roen’s home-shop.

All four suspects reportedly confessed to the crime and were preliminarily charged with theft with aggravating circumstances and sent to the provincial court yesterday.