A border police official was arrested in Pursat province on Sunday night for firing his pistol into the air during a wedding party, but was released on Monday morning at the request of his unit, which is overseen by his father, officials said.
Se Bunroeun, an officer in Pursat’s Border Protection Unit 825 —which falls under the authority of his father, a deputy provincial police chief—was apprehended shortly after 11 p.m. for discharging his police-issued K-54 twice during the party in Veal Veng district, according to district police chief Kheng Leng.
Though Mr. Bunroeun tried to persuade police that he only fired his sidearm to break up a fight, Mr. Leng said, witnesses said he had been drunk at the time and was carelessly waving around his weapon.
Five of the men Mr. Bunroeun accused of fighting were also taken into custody on Sunday night, but all six were released on Sunday morning at the request of Mr. Bunroeun’s unit, he said.
“We just made a report and the case was handed over to border police,” he said.
Mr. Bunroeun’s father, Kuoy Saroeun, stood by his son’s version of events but said he had not personally intervened to have him freed.
