Police are searching for two of three suspects who kicked open a police car door to escape at Stung Meanchey Bridge in Meanchey district while police were taking them to Prey Sar prison on Sunday.

Phnom Penh municipal police chief Sar Thet said on Sunday that three suspects were ordered by a court to be detained at Prey Sar prison after being arrested for violence. But when authorities reached the bridge, the suspects kicked open the car door and two escaped.

“Authorities arrested one man. Two escaped wearing a handcuff on one wrist,” he said, adding that “the three suspects were accused of assault at Prampi Makara district, Phnom Penh. The three of them are youths,” Thet said.

District police chief Neth Sithon could not be reached for comment on Sunday, but district deputy police chief Kret Sekharin claimed that authorities had already re-arrested the suspects.

“We investigated and arrested them already. We were able to arrest the two of them again. We sent them to Prey Sar prison on Sunday morning,” he said.

He said he could not provide the identities of the offenders who were rearrested as he was busy.

A video report by a local news organisation said the offenders escaped on Sunday after jumping from the car at Stung Meanchey Bridge and leaping from a height of seven metres while handcuffed.

The car that delivered the suspects belonged to the Prampi Makara district police office, according to the video.