Three men were charged by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Tuesday over their alleged role in a string of armed robberies that netted an estimated $420,000, court officials and police said.
Police arrested Tang Run, 31, and Oum Kol, 34, at their homes in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district, and Sem Samrach, 40, at his home in Dangkao district’s Chaom Chao commune on Dec 26, municipal penal police chief Chuon Narin said by telephone Tuesday.
Municipal court Deputy Prosecutor Hing Bunchea said the three were charged with robbery Tuesday, and the case has been handed over to the investigating judge.
Police are still searching for six other men who are also believed to have taken part in the robberies, Chuon Narin said.
According to Chuon Narin, the gang’s heists included $300,000 in gold taken from a shop in Russei Keo district’s Svay Pak commune on Dec 12, an October robbery of $50,000 outside the Acleda Bank headquarters on Monivong Boulevard, and the robbery, the same month, of an armored truck transporting $73,000 in Kompong Cham province.
None of the stolen cash and gold was recovered, Chuon Narin said, adding that the gang had probably gambled everything away.
“This group was involved with more than these three robberies,” he said.
“They have robbed in many other provinces…. This is a big robbery ring that has frightened the gold sellers,” he added.
