The Kompong Thom Provincial Court on Thursday laid a provisional timber smuggling charge against a man who allegedly paid his baby’s nanny to ride in his car in a failed bid to evade authorities.
Provincial police chief Chou Sam An said the man, his wife and their nanny were arrested on Wednesday after his officers, acting on intelligence from the force’s anti-economic crime bureau, stopped their car on National Road 1.
“The couple hired a passenger with a baby to travel with them and the 106 pieces of rosewood, which weighed 300 kilograms, in the Toyota Camry. But they were stopped and arrested by the provincial police,” he said.
The group of four was sent to the office of the Forestry Administration’s Kompong Svay division along with the wood and the car.
Division chief Kho Sochetra identified the couple as Siev Heng, 37, and his wife, Horn Sreytin, 19, and said they were sent to the provincial court on Thursday along with the nanny.
Prosecutor Ith Sothea said he released the wife and the nanny, but provisionally charged Mr. Heng with timber smuggling.
