Efforts to extradite a French citizen wanted in connection with six bank heists in Denmark went awry Monday when the man locked himself in his airport cell, slit his wrist and threatened suicide.
Bun Sokuny, deputy director of Interpol’s executive bureau, acknowledged a lapse in immigration management that allowed Bruno Jambut to get a key to his cell at Pochentong International Airport.
The 35-year-old Jambut also had in his possession a razor blade and a sharp-edged shard of ceramic glass broken from a food plate, Interpol officials said.
Interpol officials said Jambut slit his wrist with a ceramic shard, drawing a moderate amount of blood, and threatened to slash his stomach with the razor blade.
At one point, Jambut’s face could be seen through his cell window. Afraid that he might commit suicide, officials on Monday afternoon frantically asked the 20 or so people to leave the detention room outside Jambut’s cell. It was unclear late Monday whether guards were able to unlock the cell.
A prison guard said Jambut had been acting normally during his two-month confinement until Sunday.
Jambut came to Cambodia in 1996 and opened the La Rotonde restaurant on Sisowath Quay with two partners. He told some acquaintances that he had been a businessman in France, selling cotton sarongs made in Indonesia.
But with his arrest two months ago at a roadblock near the Ambassador Hotel on Pochentong Road, a different story emerged: Jambut was wanted in connection with bank robberies totaling $3 million. Two of his alleged partners in crime were arrested in France the same day.
Bun Sokuny said Cambodian authorities would try to calm Jambut in hopes of persuading him to be peacefully extradited within the next day or two. It wasn’t clear Monday evening whether he had surrendered the key to his cell.
French Embassy officials wouldn’t comment Monday evening on the incident. Two men from the French Ministry of Justice who were there to escort Jambut back to France witnessed the event. Danish authorities have permitted Jambut to be tried in a French court. (Additional reporting by Jeff Smith)
