Crime and law enforcement

Nearly five cubic feet of highly priced wood was confiscated in Battambang province’s Samlot district after Military Police in Kampong Lapov commune stopped a truck on Wednesday, said Meas Sovan, the provincial Military Police commander. ...

Government officials have threatened that those who boycott the coming election but ink their fingers to indicate they had voted will face punishment according to the law. But analysts and opposition figures say that there is no applicable law relating to such an issue. ...

Interior Minister Sar Kheng on Thursday ordered authorities to investigate a potential connection between a recent gun-smuggling case in Thailand and a similar case last year, seemingly contradicting the Defence Ministry’s earlier claim that the weapons didn’t stem from Cambodia. ...

Political fugitive Sam Serey, long wanted by the Cambodian government for allegedly operating a “terrorist” group, was arrested in Bangkok on Wednesday for an immigration violation, with the Cambodian government submitting a formal request for his extradition on Thursday. Serey, founder of the dissident group ...

Boeung Kak community land activist Tep Vanny is making another bid for release in a case that sent her to prison over a 2013 protest outside the home of Prime Minister Hun Sen. Vanny’s sister, Huot Chansovann, filed a petition on Monday to Hun Sen’s ...

The Ministry of Interior released a 14-page dossier of purported evidence against self-exiled political dissident Sam Serey on Wednesday, and government mouthpiece Fresh News leaked audio recordings of alleged associates seeking to buttress Prime Minister Hun Sen’s accusation that Serey was plotting a Khmer New ...

The Appeal Court has rejected a plea from two Boeung Kak activists to restart an investigation into a nighttime attack on lake residents, journalists and others in 2013 at Phnom Penh’s Wat Phnom by thugs and plainclothes police officials. ...

The director of Kampong Speu’s protected Phnom Oral Wildlife Sanctuary and his predecessor have been charged with illegally clearing forest in a case dating back to 2013, and have been summoned to court for questioning. ...

Former opposition leader Sam Rainsy has been summoned from exile to answer a charge of “treason” over an alleged agreement he made with a pro-Montagnard activist. Phnom Penh Municipal Court deputy prosecutor Sieng Sok issued a letter on Thursday to summon Rainsy as a “suspect” ...

Police in Kampong Cham province on Monday found a haul of 41 rosewood logs in a Lexus heading towards the Vietnamese border, while police in Stung Treng province discovered some 30 cubic metres of illegal timber on Sunday. No suspects were arrested in either case. ...

Two opposition lawmakers beaten up outside the National Assembly in 2015 will have their appeal heard this Friday – nearly two years after the three Bodyguard Unit members responsible for the attack were given mostly suspended sentences by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court. ...

UN special Rapporteur Rhona Smith’s request to meet with jailed opposition leader Kem Sokha in a Tbong Khmum prison was rejected by an investigating judge who cited “important tasks” that needed to be completed before outsiders were allowed such access. ...

Imprisoned former Ambassador Suth Dina appeared in the Supreme Court yesterday to challenge the procedures of the Appeal Court, where he attempted to get his five-year sentence for “abuse of power” and “unlawful exploitation” overturned in August. ...

The Interior Ministry said it will investigate documents and a video from 2013 that resurfaced yesterday showing former opposition leader Sam Rainsy committing to upholding the rights of ethnic minorities in four northeastern Cambodian provinces, with a Justice Ministry spokesman saying it qualified as “treason”. ...

Royal Cambodian Armed Forces chief of joint staff Hun Manet has said he disagrees that Preah Sihanouk province, where Chinese investment in hotels and casinos has skyrocketed, will become a second Macau. Lieutenant General Manet made the comment on Monday during a ground-breaking ceremony for the ...

Jailed opposition leader Kem Sokha may not face trial until after the July elections, after a Phnom Penh Municipal Court decision on Monday to extend his pre-trial detention up to another six months. Meng Sopheary, Sokha’s lawyer, confirmed that Investigating Judge Ky Rithy extended the ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday called on monks to join hands in educating people to respect traffic laws and avoid drug use in order to reduce traffic deaths and drug problems. During a building inauguration at Chey Mongkul pagoda in Kampong Cham province, Mr Hun Sen ...

Interior Minister Sar Kheng defended plans to create “pay-to-stay” luxury prisons yesterday, claiming the scheme would also help poorer prisoners by reducing overcrowding. ...

Forestry Administration officials and local police on Wednesday intercepted a load of illegal timber in Kampong Speu, but only managed to seize two of the 10 first-grade logs after villagers began to burn the timber – and attempted to do the same to an FA ...

Cambodia’s prison population swelled to more than 28,000 inmates last year – well over the system’s capacity – with Interior Minister Sar Kheng suggesting yesterday that the construction of more luxurious pay-to-stay prison blocks for wealthy inmates could help alleviate the severe overcrowding. ...

About 300 people from 11 provinces gathered at Prime Minister Hun Sen’s cabinet near Wat Botum pagoda yesterday to ask for help in their ongoing dispute with Empire Big Capital Limited, an investment company that cheated thousands of victims out of nearly $60 million. In May ...

Local journalists have launched an online campaign calling on the courts to consider dropping charges against two former Radio Free Asia journalists, Uon Chhin and Yeang Sothearin, who were arrested by authorities in November. ...

Thai and Cambodian authorities met earlier this week to discuss their extradition agreement and strengthen prisoner exchange – a meeting that came just days after Thailand extradited Cambodian refugee Sam Sokha amid concerns about the fate of more than 100 opposition figures who have fled ...

Two men were arrested and temporarily detained on Monday in Koh Kong province after authorities discovered 34 marijuana plants being grown illegally in the gardens in front of their homes, police said yesterday. ...