Phnom Penh police deployed a drone on Monday in the search for a suspect who robbed a bookstore, killed a soldier moonlighting as a security guard and then disappeared into an abandoned construction site on Sunday afternoon.
“We used the drone to search for the suspect because the area was so complex,” said Eng Sorphea, chief of the municipal bureau of serious crimes, explaining that the area was filled with ponds, high grass, thorny bushes and poisonous snakes.
The shooting occurred during heavy rain on Sunday afternoon in Pur Senchey district, making tracking the suspect difficult, said Yim Sarann, the district’s police chief.
The area was filled with abandoned buildings and overgrown foliage, he said.
“We couldn’t allow our force to go down to search for the suspect,” he said.
“The suspect also has a gun and the location was very complex place and the weather was terrible.”
Police said on Monday they were still trying to identify the suspect, who killed the soldier—identified as 23-year-old Yeng Rinang—in the chase that followed the bookstore robbery.
