A standoff in the early hours of Tuesday morning between police and a gang of six thieves fleeing a botched robbery at a gas station in Siem Reap province’s Puok district ended after five hours with all but one member of the crew escaping, police said yesterday.
It was the fourth time the gang had targeted the Tela station in Sasasdom commune, and its owner Hong Pheng was monitoring the surveillance cameras when they showed up at 1 a.m., said district police chief Tep Pumsen.
“The group of six men used wire cutters to get through the back fence and some of them went inside and started carrying the 35-liter containers of gasoline outside to the others,” he said, adding that the group had made off with 128 such containers during a previous heist.
“Our officers went as soon as we got the information,” he said, adding that they had to give chase and finally cut the group off about 1 km from the station.
“They ran into the bushes and we surrounded them until 6 a.m,” he said.
“We arrested one and now are investigating to find the others.”
