Armed robbers held up a family-run grocery in Kandal province’s Ponhea Leu district on Sunday night, making off with cash and jewelry worth $10,000, local police said on Monday.
The incident was just the latest in a spate of armed robberies that has swept the country in recent weeks, leading the interior minister to order police nationwide to arrest more violent criminals or face demotion. Just last week, the robbery of another small grocery in Kandal Stung district, which borders Ponhea Leu, left one person dead and three injured.
In Sunday’s robbery, three men wearing ski masks held up Pring Sim, 45, as she was preparing to close her shop in Chhvang commune at about 7 p.m., according to deputy district police chief Seng Srang.
“She said that two of the three suspects were carrying a pistol and a rifle in their hands. They came to her house and pointed the weapons, threatening to kill her and her daughter and asking for their valuables,” he said.
Ms. Sim and her 25-year-old daughter, Teng Vann, handed over their jewelry and cash, and the robbers fled the scene without discharging their weapons, the police official added.
He said officers from four communes, along with district police and military police, had arrived at the scene within 15 minutes of being alerted by neighbors, but were too late to apprehend the culprits.
“We cooperated with military police and a total of about 50 officials quickly intervened and investigated at the scene, but the suspects were gone,” he said. “We surrounded that area until 2 a.m., but we found nothing.”
Roeun Nara, deputy provincial police chief, said officers had not yet arrested any suspects in last week’s armed robbery.
“It is interesting, because in the past robbers focused on jewelry shops, but now they are targeting grocery shops,” he said, adding that police had been ordered to step up patrols of local businesses.
National Police spokesman Kirth Chantharith said senior police officials would soon hold another meeting to discuss the armed robbery epidemic but declined to provide details.