Police were continuing to hold in custody two 30-year-old men suspected in the abduction of a 6-year-old Phnom Penh girl even as the search for the girl remained fruitless after five days.
Police picked up the two men Wednesday afternoon within hours of the kidnapping of Tan Ly Teang, a New York Institute student, but neither had found the girl nor were ready to file charges against the two men late Sunday afternoon, Phnom Penh Deputy Judiciary Police Chief Chhun Saru said.
Tan Ly Teang, whose home is in Chamkar Mon district, was walking down a dusty road to catch a motorcycle taxi to school when she was abducted, said Sok Khemarin, penal police chief of the serious crime unit. Witnesses said the girl was about 10 meters from her home when a man on a motorbike sped by and lunged at her, trying to grab her, Sok Khemarin said.
The girl leaped back to escape the motorcycle driver, Sok Khemarin said. As she did, witnesses said, two men in a white Toyota Camry sped by from the other direction. They snatched Tan Ly Teang off the street and dragged her into the car before speeding off.
Police believe the two men now in custody were in that vehicle, Chhun Saru said.
Authorities arrested the two suspects, who were in a white Camry, later that afternoon, but police have been unable to develop any evidence because the men refuse to talk, Chhun Saru said.
Authorities do not even know where either suspect lives, Chhun Saru said. One of the men is a convicted thief, whom police released from prison just weeks before Tang Ly Teang’s abduction, and that adds to suspicion against him, Chhun Saru said.
No ransom demands have been made to Tang Ly Teang’s parents, who make their living as vendors in Phsar Toul Toum Poung, selling spare parts for motorcycles.
