Police arrested one man in Thailand and another in Cambodia this week after the pair kidnapped a land dealer last month in Phnom Penh and demanded a $10,000 ransom, officials said on Wednesday.
Pretending to be interested buyers, the men abducted Chea Narin, 57, upon meeting him on a plot of land in Pur Senchey district’s Choam Chao commune on January 13, according to Bun Sathya, chief of the municipal police’s minor crimes bureau.
“The suspects asked the victim, who worked as the land dealer, to meet them,” he said. “One of them pointed a handgun at the victim’s head, then they grabbed the victim and pushed him to the car.”
The suspects—Nou Chanly, 28, and So Chamroeun, 32—told Mr. Narin they would kill him unless he gave them $10,000, Mr. Sathya said.
“They threatened to kill the victim unless his family brought the money to them,” he said, adding that the pair eventually agreed to accept $6,000.
“The suspect was forced to call his daughter to tell her to bring the money to them,” Mr. Sathya said. “They took $6,000 from the victim’s family and then sped off in the car.”
Police arrested Mr. Chanly on Monday while he was walking down a street in the same commune where he allegedly carried out the crime, Mr. Sathya said, adding that he then helped police locate his partner in crime.
“We let them communicate with each other on the phone, and then the Interior Ministry’s internal security department tracked his mobile signal to find his location,” he said.
Loek Sokha, deputy Oddar Meanchey provincial police chief, said his officers were then informed that Mr. Chamroeun had plans to flee to Thailand on Tuesday. Thai police apprehended the second suspect as soon as he crossed the O’Smach International Checkpoint, he said.
Both men confessed to the crime and were questioned at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Wednesday, Mr. Sathya said, adding that questioning would continue today.
