koh kong province – Keo Vanntha, 25, said her husband visited her on April 9, the day before a peculiar attack was launched in Andung Teuk village, Botum Sakor district.
He gave her $30, the most he had ever given to her and an amount rarely seen in that part of the country, she said Wednesday.
Keo Vanntha has not seen her husband, Ly Heng, since the day of the attack and does not know how to tell him that their newborn baby died on Tuesday. She had no money for the child’s medicine.
Police and four detained suspects have named Ly Heng as the leader of a small force that planted two B-40 rockets rigged to timed detonators on a ferry in Andung Teuk village, and then exchanged gunfire with district police the night of April 10 and the morning of April 11.
One of the bombs was discovered on the ferry shortly before the shooting began. It was moved to a police post at the terminal, which it blew apart at about 6:30 am, slightly injuring three people, said Botum Sakor district Deputy Police Chief Khat Sareth.
“Police didn’t know it was a time bomb,” he said Wednesday.
A second bomb was then discovered and dumped in the river, where it exploded harmlessly that afternoon.
Police said Ly Heng’s whereabouts are unknown.
Provincial Court Prosecutor Keo Sim labeled the attackers operatives for the outlawed US-based rebel group, the Cambodian Freedom Fighters, who claimed responsibility for a November 2000 attack in Phnom Penh.
But, in a recent e-mail from the US, CFF President Chhun Yasith denied carrying out the attacks in Koh Kong.
On Tuesday in Koh Kong town, four men, crabbers by profession and low-end mercenaries by necessity, sat in the provincial prison, saying they’d been cheated.
They told reporters they had participated in the attack, but said their leaders, “Mr Heng” and others, had revealed little of the plan to them, the new recruits.
“Those guys, they had prepared to attack the government many times,” said prisoner Mul Nop, 32, who was shot in the leg by police.
Mul Nop said the leaders were the only ones armed with weapons in their small force of 12.
“I don’t know the exact plan, but Mr Heng said he wanted to destroy the ferry and make the [explosive] sound,” Mul Nop said. He added that they had been instructed not to harm locals.
He also recalled the ringleader saying, “We want the government to negotiate with us to expel the Vietnamese” from Cambodia.
“I knew this was against the law, but because my living conditions are very poor, I promised my wife I would do it only one time for the money, but I wasn’t paid and now I’m in jail,” Mul Nop said.
His fellow suspects—Sot Chhang, 30; Ron Voeun, 24; and Pich Sun, 33—told similar stories, saying they were promised $500.
The four men, who gave different spellings of their names in earlier news reports, said they had never heard of the CFF until the military police took mug shots of them holding boards bearing the rebellious title.
Sun Samoeun, a Legal Aid of Cambodia lawyer, said Tuesday he had just been assigned to defend the Andung Teuk raiders, but had not yet spoken to the detained men. He later reversed that statement, saying he had spoken to the imprisoned men, apparently, shortly after reporters had.
Dismissing motives other than the CFF’s desire to oust Prime Minister Hun Sen, Sun Samoeun said of his clients, “It is not a revenge case. They tried to topple the government.”
Two of the detained suspects had been armed and all four admitted to working for the CFF, said Sun Samoeun, relating information that conflicted with what the suspects had told reporters.
“Most of them were not at first aware of the attack, but then Mr Heng showed them the guns. It was threatening, and they could not refuse,” he said.
This is the second CFF case Sun Samoeun has handled.
In November, seven suspected CFF operatives were arrested for trafficking weapons into the province. Two of the men went on trial April 27 and were sentenced to 10 years in prison. Five others were released, he said, adding that they had been cheated: “They were promised rice and food.”
“The CFF leaders only try to convince the poor to support them. Hunger and poverty make them join the movement. Some claim they were offered high positions in the districts,” Sun Samoeun said.
He also said the CFF operates in Koh Kong province because of its proximity to Thailand, where its financial backers are based.
Attacks like the one in Andung Teuk give the rebels exposure and help them raise funds, he said.
Thong Narong, provincial military police chief, said that his men on Tuesday had arrested another suspect in the attack, Chhen Pov, 42.
“We are not sure if they are CFF, but they belong to an armed force. We just arrest them and let the prosecutor charge them,” he said.
All that was known was that a group was trying to create insecurity in the area, Thong Narong said. He said he had “no concern this small force can create chaos in the province.”
