A police official with the Interior Ministry who also operated a Phnom Penh gold shop was shot to death early Saturday evening during a robbery outside his home in Chamkar Mon district, police said.
Lieutenant Colonel Ouk Chansokal, 43, an official with the Interior Ministry’s technical border police department, died at the scene after being shot once in the chest and once beneath his left armpit, said Tuol Svay Prey I commune police chief Khut Kim. The robbers made off with about $100,000 in cash and gold as well as three handguns, he said.
According to Khut Kim, Ouk Chansokal drove home from his shop at Phsar Kandal accompanied by two friends on motorbikes acting as escorts. Upon reaching home about 5:30 pm, six gunmen arrived on motorbike and opened fire with pistols. Escort Soun Sak, 47, who officials said is a police captain in Ouk Chansokal’s department, was shot once in the stomach and is now being treated at Preah Kossamak Hospital. Ouk Chansokal’s son, 18-year-old Ouk Chanviseth, was also shot in the ambush when he opened the gate to the family home, but was only wounded slightly in the side.
Khut Kim said that the victim knew he was being followed home for the past two months and tried to protect himself by having friends serve as bodyguards during cash and gold deliveries.
Municipal penal police chief Chuon Naren said his men are eager to find the perpetrators that killed one of their own.
“We are burning our hands and legs to investigate this case,” he said.
