Police have recovered a stolen motorbike belonging to one of two slain Phnom Penh students and hope it will lead to an arrest.
Police discovered the silver Cub Press motorbike in the possession of a Kandal province man, Kandal Judicial Police Deputy Chief Tom Vai said. The man claimed that another man from his village had sold him the motorbike for $450. The villager he identified claimed that an unidentified man had sold him the bike for $250.
The motorbike is currently in police custody. When the correct application forms are filled out, they will give the bike to the father of the victim.
The motorbike belonged to Yin Vatamak, 20, one of two Phnom Penh university students who disappeared on March 12. The bodies of the two students were discovered burning in Bak Kheng commune, Muk Kampul district, Kandal province, after having been missing for 12 days, police said on Saturday.
Tom Vai said that Yin Vatamak’s body was found Monday morning by his relatives and villagers in Bak Kheng commune.
Yin Vatamak, a third-year student at Royal University of Phnom Penh, and his friend Pin Sokthyda, a first-year student at the Institute of Management, both disappeared the same day, Tom Vai said. “Pin Sokthyda was found last Saturday after villagers smelled something bad in a bush area at Bak Kheng commune in Mok Kampoul district,” Tom Vai said.
The students were slain on the same day and buried in bushes near a rice field. Their bodies were found near National Route 6, about 100 meters inside Bak Kheng commune. They were buried about 100 meters from one another. Police could not determine how they were killed because the bodies were decomposed, but there was blood near the Yoin Vanak cave, Tom Vai said.
Both Yin Vatamak and Pin Sokthyda came from Svay Rieng province, police said. They are still searching for the motive for the slayings.
