Journo, forest official allegedly beat logger
A local journalist and a forestry official were arrested by military police in Kratie province’s Sambo district on Friday night for allegedly discharging a weapon into the air and beating a man with a boat oar in an extortion bid gone awry. According to district military police commander Chung Sokunthea, Khuth Khy, a reporter for the Khmer-language newspaper Today News, and Sandan Forestry Administration director Seng Chantarun allegedly set upon a man in a rowing boat while attempting to extort money from him for transporting luxury wood. … Kan Vannorng, deputy chief of the Sambo district police, said a trend had recently emerged of local journalists attaching themselves to provincial forestry officers in Kratie and stopping people involved in the timber trade, demanding bribes in return for not reporting on their activities. …
