The operator of a Wing mobile payment kiosk was shot in the leg during an armed robbery at his home in Stung Treng province on Monday night after police tasked with guarding the area abandoned their posts.
Suy Bunhour, 33, was watching television with his family in his home in Thala Barivat district’s Sam Ang commune when three men—armed with an iron bar, a pistol and an AK-47 assault rifle—broke in at about 11:30 p.m., according to Duong Sivutha, chief of the provincial police’s serious crimes bureau.
“The three robbers escaped the scene unharmed after they took $800, more than 80,000,000 riel [about $20,000], some gold and platinum jewelry, and an iPhone,” Mr. Sivutha said on Tuesday.
The bureau chief said Mr. Bunhour put up a fight when the men entered the room where he was sitting with his wife, their 9-year-old daughter and his mother-in-law.
“When the [first] robber climbed up to the loft room, he grabbed a wooden chair and hit the robber,” he said.
“The robber became angry and began firing the gun at his thigh,” Mr. Sivutha said, adding that the gunman hit Mr. Bunhour once in the left thigh before ordering him to unlock a safe that contained the money from his Wing business and an assortment of jewelry.
After the intruders left, Mr. Bunhour was taken to the provincial referral hospital. He is expected to make a full recovery.
Mr. Sivutha said the robbery might have been thwarted had a pair of provincial police officers assigned to patrol the commune—in response to a wave of armed robberies of Wing kiosks earlier this year—not abandoned their posts on Sunday and Monday nights to avoid sleeping in the rain.
“The place where the incident happened is remote, and we don’t have enough officers there,” he added.
Provincial police have identified two of the three intruders through photographs of past Wing robbery suspects, according to Mr. Sivutha, and have requested a warrant for their arrest from the provincial court.
