Money Exchange Shop Owner Beaten, Robbed

The owner of one of the most suc­cessful money exchange and transfer shops at Phnom Penh’s Olym­pic Market was left critically in­jured Monday morning after he was beaten and robbed by four men at his home, police said.

As Heng Pheng, 40, was preparing to leave for work, the four men al­legedly broke into his home in Pram­pi Makara district’s Mitta­pheap commune and pistol-whip­ped him before stealing $7,028 and two Nokia mobile phones, mu­nicipal police chief Touch Na­ruth said.

“We are investigating this incident,” said Huy Song, Prampi Ma­kara district deputy police chief.

“The perpetrators were four gang members with three handguns and two fast motorbikes who fled the victim’s house at 7:20 am,” he said.

The victim sustained blows to the neck and the left eye before the men grabbed a box full of money and sped away, Huy Song said.

“The victim is one of the biggest overseas money transferrers. Rel­a­tives send [each other] mon­ey through the victim’s mon­ey ex­change store,” Touch Na­ruth said.

“This is the first time that gunmen dared to rob a victim in the daytime,” he said, adding that po­lice have some information about the suspects.

“Police are hunting them,” he add­ed.