The National Military Police will pay a $2,500 reward to anyone with information about the whereabouts of military policemen wanted in connection with three separate shooting deaths, National Military Police Commander Sao Sokha said Tuesday.
“We are giving the reward of 10 million riel to anyone who will tip the competent authority about the suspects’ whereabouts,” Sao Sokha said. “We are taking tougher action to bring the suspects to the court. We don’t want the killers to be at large,” he said.
One of the Military Police officers at large is accused earlier this year of shooting a boy who was running from a poultry farm with another child suspected of stealing some ducks.
A second suspect, Keo Sinoeun, 26, is accused of killing his commander, Lieutenant Colonel Puth Sam Dalek, 38, on July 6.
Keo Sinoeun was reportedly enraged at Puth Sam Dalek for publicly reprimanding him for not wearing his helmet while on sentry duty at the former RCAF Joint Chiefs of Staff Headquarters on Norodom Boulevard. He fired into the colonel’s Toyota four-wheel-drive with an AK-47 rifle. He then pulled the colonel’s bullet-ridden body from the car and shot him several more times. Keo Sinoeun is suspected of having fled on a hijacked motorbike.
Municipal Court Prosecutor Uk Savuth said the court has issued an arrest warrant for the third suspect, Khan Neang, 28, accused of killing one man and wounding another as they drove away on a motorbike after a dispute stemming from a truck that passed through a Dangkao district checkpoint without stopping Nov 23.
Adhoc spokesman Chan Soveth, who has previously criticized authorities for delaying Khan Neang’s arrest warrant to allow him time to escape, welcomed the warrant and reward offer but was dubious about the case’s future. “This shows that the authorities are paying attention to the case, but I think they are only speaking without acting, because when the authorities were there, they did not arrest any perpetrators before they escaped.”
