Three men were arrested yesterday for allegedly raping a 23-year-old woman in the capital’s Chroy Changvar commune as she walked home from work on Thursday, confirmed deputy district police chief Ek Serey.

The victim was walking alone after leaving her job as a masseuse at a hotel, when one of the suspects snatched her phone and ran to a nearby pagoda, Serey said. A second man then appeared on a motorbike and offered the victim a ride to the police station to report the robbery, but instead brought her to Wat Thmey pagoda where she was threatened, robbed and raped by six men.

“We arrested three of the men and are now investigating the crime based on the victim’s report,” Serey said, adding that police are searching for the three suspects still on the loose.

The three men in custody are Koy Rithy, 33; Heng Virak, 20; and Veng Chanrath, 20.

A 2013 UN report showed that more than 5 per cent of Cambodian men have committed gang rape, higher than the regional average of 3.9 per cent. The same study showed that while one in five men have committed rape, nearly half had never faced any legal consequences.