Two Thai checkpoints on the border in Battambang province have been closed since Sunday, after a Thai businesswoman was robbed and killed inside Cambodia, police said Tuesday.
Thai authorities have said the checkpoints in Phnom Proek and Kamrieng districts will remain closed until suspects are apprehended, provincial police said.
Thai national Narong Rath Chansen, 25, was shot in the back and died 200 meters from the border on Saturday night, Phnom Proek district Deputy police Chief Sareth Viseth said. He said police believe three robbers killed the woman and took about $6,225 from her before fleeing. “Thai authorities claimed they will close the…checkpoints until Cambodian authorities arrest the suspects,” Sareth Viseth said.
The Thai Embassy’s second secretary Songchaim Chaipatiyut said Tuesday he could not comment on the border closing, because “normally this kind of decision is made at the local level.” The Cambodian government had not yet brought the issue to the embassy’s attention, he added.
According to interviews broadcast by Radio Free Asia, villagers selling food and clothing near the border checkpoints are worried they will lose Thai customers.
But Battambang provincial Governor Prach Chan said Tuesday their businesses will not be affected because two other provincial checkpoints remain open.
Although the open checkpoints are in neighboring Sampov Loun district, Battambang provincial Department of Commerce Director Promh Vanna agreed local traders will not be hurt by the border post closings, saying they could relocate their businesses.
Sareth Viseth also blamed Cambodian border police for the incident. The slain woman, whom police said traveled frequently to Cambodia to buy vegetables to resell in Thailand, should not have entered Cambodia at night.
Sareth Viseth also expressed frustration at the Thai decision. “We are not God: We cannot arrest the suspects as quickly as they want,” he said.
(Additional reporting by Erik Wasson)
