Three would-be car thieves were thwarted in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district on Monday, but not before scaring the neighbourhood half to death.

Police said a man saw the three men trying to break into his house to steal a car.

When he raised the alarm, the three men stopped in their tracks, but one allegedly whipped out a gun and fired it into the air to discourage any would-be vigilantes.

The ploy worked, and by the time police had arrived the three men had fled. KOH SANTEPHEAP