DPA
A top Cambodian official said Tuesday that he was unsure where disgraced former Phnom Penh police chief Heng Pov was and was awaiting official notification from Malaysia, where he was believed to have been deported from Singapore.
"I still have no official word on the whereabouts of Heng Pov," Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak said by telephone. "I don't know where he is now."
Heng Pov's family told local radio over the weekend that the man accused in a judge's 2003 murder was in Malaysia but had travelled there with the support of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, was safe and was awaiting asylum in a third country.
However, Singapore's Straits Times newspaper reported Saturday that Heng Pov was arrested Friday for overstaying and sent back to Cambodia after he was handed over to immigration officials.
Cambodian officials said they were not being kept abreast of developments by authorities in Singapore and Malaysia as they try to secure Heng Pov's extradition back to Cambodia to face trial.
Formerly one of Cambodia's most powerful police officers, an undersecretary of state in the interior ministry and an adviser to Prime Minister Hun Sen, Heng Pov fled to Singapore in late July. He sought asylum in Australia but was turned down.
Heng Pov is wanted for allegedly masterminding the April 2003 murder of Phnom Penh Municipal Court judge Sok Sethamony, who was shot in his car as he drove to work along a busy street.
Heng Pov has also been linked to failed assassination attempts against a newspaper publisher, an electricity authority official and the national military police chief.
Heng Pov faces life imprisonment if convicted in Cambodia, which does not have the death penalty.
"I still have no official word on the whereabouts of Heng Pov," Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak said by telephone. "I don't know where he is now."
Heng Pov's family told local radio over the weekend that the man accused in a judge's 2003 murder was in Malaysia but had travelled there with the support of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, was safe and was awaiting asylum in a third country.
However, Singapore's Straits Times newspaper reported Saturday that Heng Pov was arrested Friday for overstaying and sent back to Cambodia after he was handed over to immigration officials.
Cambodian officials said they were not being kept abreast of developments by authorities in Singapore and Malaysia as they try to secure Heng Pov's extradition back to Cambodia to face trial.
Formerly one of Cambodia's most powerful police officers, an undersecretary of state in the interior ministry and an adviser to Prime Minister Hun Sen, Heng Pov fled to Singapore in late July. He sought asylum in Australia but was turned down.
Heng Pov is wanted for allegedly masterminding the April 2003 murder of Phnom Penh Municipal Court judge Sok Sethamony, who was shot in his car as he drove to work along a busy street.
Heng Pov has also been linked to failed assassination attempts against a newspaper publisher, an electricity authority official and the national military police chief.
Heng Pov faces life imprisonment if convicted in Cambodia, which does not have the death penalty.
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