Gangs go for gold in Phnom Penh

[Bangkoktraveler]

With a new police chief, are criminals taking advantage?

 

THIS week, heavily armed, seemingly well-trained gangs stole an estimated US$400,000 worth of gold from jewellery shops across the capital in three carefully coordinated daytime hits, which observers say belies a marked deterioration in the capital's security following the sudden death last month of National Police commissioner Hok Lundy.

 

"The perpetrators might believe that the police are demoralised and are busy restructuring themselves," said lawyer Sok Sam Oeun, director of the Cambodian Defenders Project. He could not provide any statistics on crime trends.

 

Ministry of Interior spokesman Khieu Sopheak said that an observed increase in serious crime was not connected to the recent reshuffle at the National Police.

 

"Overall, crime is decreasing, and the fact that we have seen more serious crime recently is not connected to the death of Hok Lundy," he said, adding that he also did not have exact figures on crime rates in the capital.

 

Khieu Sopheak said the police are hunting for the perpetrators of this week's gold robberies, which took place Tuesday and Wednesday, but said that to bring crime down "prevention is better than investigating after the crimes have happened".

 

US embassy spokesman John Johnson said, "[We] have noticed a slight increase in purse-snatching and similar crimes against American citizens and other expatriates this year." But he added that the embassy did not anticipate the change in police leadership to significanly affect crime rates.

 

"The embassy has a solid and cooperative relationship with the Cambodian National Police, and we expect that to continue under the leadership of Neth Savoeun," he said.

 

The new National Police commissioner, Neth Savoeun, was not a available for comment Thursday.

 

Sam Rainsy lawmaker Mu Sochua said that more severe crime was not a result of Hok Lundy's death but an inevitable by-product of the Kingdom's ongoing culture of impunity.

 

"Justice is for sale in our country for those who can pay," she said.

 

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[Steve]

Wow. I've only been to PP once for a few weeks so admittedly, I don't know the inner workings of the place. I say this having spoken to others far more knowledgeable about the place but from what I have heard that nothing big goes down in PP without the cops and/or somebody or some people in an official capacity giving the okay or even being involved.

 

In any event being a fairly small capital (1.3 mil) and city, its hard to have 400k without someone knowing about it. They certainly can't dispose of it within PP.

 

For those that are knowledgeable about PP, is this inaccurate or have I heard it correctly?

[Bangkoktraveler]

China Town, Bangkok, has been hit a few times. I would expect that they would get hit a lot more but they don't. Even the gold stores not in China town seem to not get robbed hardly at all.

[cavanami]

So damn crowded in the BKK ChinaTown...difficult to make a get away!