The Kandal Provincial Court yesterday charged six people over the theft of seven Toyota sedans recovered by police in three different provinces earlier this week, a court official said on Friday.
“The court charged six people with theft and acting as an accomplice—[both] with aggravating circumstances—and forging license plates,” said Lim Sokuntha, chief prosecutor at the provincial court, explaining that he did not know which suspects were charged with which crimes.
“Investigating Judge Kim Meng decided to send them to pretrial detention at the prison,” he added.
The six suspects—four men and two women—were arrested in Kandal, Takeo and Kratie provinces between Sunday and Wednesday after police tracked a stolen Toyota Camry from Phnom Penh to Kandal’s Takhmao City using a GPS system installed in the car. Police also located six more stolen Toyotas in the operation, all Camrys or Corollas.
Kandal provincial police chief Iv Chamroeun said on Thursday that authorities were searching for three more suspects in the case.
His deputy, Roeun Nara, said on Friday that it was clear that the six in custody were part of a sophisticated theft ring.
“They are all part of the same group,” he said. “They confessed to being experts at breaking into cars and turning off their GPS systems. And after the thefts, they would hide the cars for a period of time, then change the license plates.”
