A security videotape made at the Golden Crown Casino in Poipet shows two men planting a homemade bomb Jan 5 that later exploded, causing no injuries.
Police said Tuesday they learned about the videotape and the Jan 5 bombing only when they were called to investigate two subsequent explosions at the casino last Saturday.
No videotapes were made of the second and third explosions, said a police source who did not want to be identified. Three security guards were hurt in those blasts, one seriously.
The Jan 5 video shows two men carrying bags into the casino and disappearing into a toilet. They later emerged, got into a casino bus and left the scene. Two hours later, at 1:20 pm, the bomb exploded.
Security officers searched the casino and found two additional bombs that did not go off.
Banteay Meanchey Governor Thach Korn said Tuesday officials are investigating documents in the case. “Our first conclusion is that it is a business argument, because some Thai businessmen have a share in some casinos in Poipet,” he said.
He confirmed reports that influential Thai politician Yubamrung Chalerm and his family were staying at the Princess Hotel and Casino when the bombs exploded Saturday. The politician’s son, Duangchalerm, is a murder suspect in Thailand and rumored to be hiding in Poipet.
“We don’t know whether his son was there. We asked our police to work on this,” he said. Cambodian authorities have not received a request from Thailand for his arrest, he added.
When bombs exploded Saturday, casino managers told police about the earlier incident.
“We suspect these two [men] in the second explosions as well,” the officer said.
He said police are sometimes hampered in investigations at the casinos because the owners do not cooperate. “This problem is because our police have no right of access,” he said, adding that casino security “is under the Interior Ministry.”
