Police nab four kidnap suspects

The four suspects arrested for the kidnapping of a 16-year old girl and extortion of $80,000. Written by Chrann Chamroeun

Tuesday, 10 March 2009 Phnom Penh Post

FOUR men have been arrested as suspects in the Siem Reap kidnapping of a high-ranking military policeman's daughter, according to the provincial governor, Sou Phirin. The suspects are related and were found in three separate locations - Siem Reap, Phnom Penh and Battambang - on Sunday and Monday, he said. Prak Chantoeun, the province's deputy military police chief, confirmed military police in Siem Reap had four suspects in custody for questioning but declined to comment further. Morn Chakriya, the 16-year-old daughter of Siem Reap's military police chief, Morn Samon, was released after a group of men abducted the high school student from the street and sped off in a car last Friday afternoon, according to military police. Sou Phirin said a ransom - including money and the release from custody of a man suspected to have been involved in the abduction - had been negotiated privately between the family and the kidnappers. But he said the freed man was again seized along with his alleged co-conspirators. "We re-arrested the mastermind who we had let go on Saturday to allow private talks between the kidnappers and the [victim's] family to begin," he said. "We will not allow them to go unpunished."