Villagers who claim that police fired their guns as they tried to collect cassava in Kratie’s Chhlong district last Wednesday will lodge a complaint with Prime Minister Hun Sen, representatives said yesterday.

Boun Chhorn, a representative of four villages in Kampong Damrei commune involved in a land dispute with Kasotim Company, said police officials working for the company had handcuffed a villager and taken him to the firm’s office.

Villager Mao Sat said that officials had shot twice into the ground and arrested his brother, Mao Nak, at about 9am, before releasing him at 3pm.

Kasotim representative Ly Hout denied that police officers were working for his company – an assertion backed by district police chief Hong Sokly – or that anyone working for his  firm had fired at villagers.

In 2008, Kasotim was granted a land concession of more than 15,000 hectares in the area.