A senior Phnom Penh police officer was arrested yesterday for allegedly poisoning one of his officers during a beer drinking session at their police station in Daun Penh district’s Chaktomuk commune on Tuesday afternoon, municipal penal police chief Chuon Naren said.
Tim Titya, 37, a 2nd Lieutenant from the municipal minor crimes division, died as he was being rushed to hospital after becoming ill while drinking at a party organized by his boss, Deputy Municipal Minor Crime Police Chief Neang Sokna.
Four other officers at the party were also rushed to the hospital after being poisoned at the same time, but have now fully recovered and were released from hospital yesterday afternoon, Mr Naren said yesterday.
“Major Neang Sokna…is detained in my penal police’s custody,” Mr Naren said, adding that the suspect will be sent to the municipal court today.
Mr Naren said that police were still waiting for the results from a medical examination of Mr Titya’s body, adding that the results would be forwarded to the municipal court when received. He said that eight other officers had been questioned about the poisoning.
Mr Titya’s father Tim Saroem, 65, yesterday called on the Ministry of the Interior to find justice for his family, saying that his son had told him three days before his death that he had been planning on moving to another police unit, away from Major Sokna.
“He poisoned my son on purpose,” Mr Saroem alleged. “Even my son’s friends, who are policemen, told me that my son died [because Major Sokna] poisoned him,” Mr Saroem alleged.
“My eyes are blind right now-I lost my first son. Ministry of the Interior, please find justice for my son?”
Mr Titya joined the police force in 1994 and will be cremated today in Sambour Meas pagoda in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district, Mr Saroem said.
Deputy municipal police chief Pol Phiethey confirmed Mr Sokna would be sent to the municipal court when all of the case paperwork had been finalized, but added that the officer had not yet been removed from his rank.
