Sen Sok district police will send 12 men to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Thursday after they were arrested on Sunday and Monday on suspicion of committing various crimes in the capital and Kandal and Prey Veng provinces.
Sen Sok district police chief Hour Mengvang told The Post on Wednesday that the suspects were all male and aged between 16 and 20 years old.
He said that after an exhaustive investigation, police from Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok and Por Sen Chey districts worked together to arrest the men at two locations on suspicion of committing robberies and street snatches, receiving stolen property and drug crimes.
Four motorbikes were confiscated during the operations, Mengvang said.
Fresh News reported that the arrests were made after two victims – a 23-year-old garment worker from Sen Sok district and an 18-year-old construction worker from Por Sen Chey district – reported to the police that they had had their motorbikes stolen.
Mengvang said after the arrests that police held a press conference on Tuesday to identify the suspects – whose heads the police had shaved – to the public.
He said they had confessed to committing three robberies in Phnom Penh – two in Sen Sok district and one in Chroy Chanvar district – as well as two in Kandal province’s Ponhea Leu district and one in Prey Veng province.
Based on the confessions of the first suspects who were arrested, Mengvang said, the police managed to arrest their accomplices one after another.
He said the men had initially used guns, knives and sticks, but later changed their approach and pretended to have arguments with the victims or caused traffic accidents before committing the robberies.
“They frightened the victims into running away, so it was easy for them to commit crimes,” Mengvang said, adding that police were scheduled to send all 12 suspects to the municipal court on Thursday.