The three men were arrested for allegedly robbing a man of $110,000 on Monday. Police
The Criminal Investigation Department of the National Police sent three Chinese nationals to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Wednesday after they were arrested on Monday for allegedly robbing a man of more than $110,000 and five mobile phones.
The department’s administrative office director Mom Chek said the suspects robbed the man in Boeung Keng Kang district’s Tuol Svay Prey I in the capital on April 30.
The victim immediately reported the incident to the police, who tracked down the three suspects and arrested them in Siem Reap town, Siem Reap province.
Chek said the operation was headed by National Police chief Neth Savoeun and the department’s head Ngeng Chou, with help from court prosecutor Keo Sothea.
However, court spokesman Kuch Kimlong said on Wednesday he had yet to receive the case file.
According to a police report on Wednesday, the suspects confessed to robbing the victim on April 30. It said after the robbery, they escaped in a pick-up, which they later abandoned in Siem Reap.
They then took a taxi to Banteay Meanchey province with the intention of making it to Thailand, but when they found the border closed, they waited two days and set off for Sihanoukville.
On Monday, they travelled from Sihanoukville to the capital, before returning to Siem Reap province to retrieve the pick-up. But police intercepted and arrested them.
In a separate incident on Wednesday, a Chinese national was shot twice and seriously injured in Chroy Changvar district’s Changvar commune in the capital.
Commune police chief Chan Bunthoeun said he believed the violence was extortion-related and police have arrested a suspect for questioning.
District police chief Siem Sothavuth declined to comment on the case.
A media report on Wednesday which quoted an anonymous Chinese translator said the perpetrator had in fact extorted $30,000 from the victim on Koh Pich (Diamond Island).
The translator said it was not clear why the perpetrator shot the victim.
After the incident, the perpetrator was transported to Chroy Changvar police station, while the victim was sent to the hospital.
