A woman who escaped from detention in a police station in Kompong Cham province on Sunday is back in custody after she was discovered by a villager in Koh Sotin district Tuesday evening, povincial police said yesterday. Following the arrest, she was sent to Kompong Cham Provincial Court yesterday and charged with kidnapping.
“After we distributed 1,000 pictures of the kidnapper throughout district communes seeking her arrest and offering a 1 million riel [about $250] award, we received a call from police in Koh Sotin district that she was arrested Tuesday at 6:30 pm,” Kompong Cham province police chief Nuon Samin said. “Following the arrest, the court charged her with the kidnapping,” he said, adding that the suspect is being held in pretrial detention.
The woman, 23-year-old Khun Sreineang, was initially arrested last week on suspicion of kidnapping a young girl from her school, but was able to escape police custody after burrowing through a small hole in a restroom.
Kampong provincial police, who apologized earlier this week for their handling of the woman, demoted and transferred one of the responsible officers to another precinct, Mr Samin said. “He is still an officer, however,” he said.
According to a police report, Ms Sreineang confessed that during her hiatus from custody, she was able to spend one night in Phnom Penh and another in Tbong Khmum district to visit family and friends. On Tuesday she arrived in Koh Sotin district’s Peam Brathnoh commune and asked random villagers for shelter through deception by saying she was angry with her husband. One villager was able to identify her by the highlights in her hair and proceeded to inform the police.
