Armbrust anti-tank rocket launchers such as the two recently seized.By Yun Samean
THE CAMBODIA DAILY
Interior Ministry counter terrorism police arrested three men and retrieved two Armbrust anti-tank rocket launchers from a rented house in Phnom Penh's Russei Keo district on Tuesday, authorities said Wednesday.
Officers of the ministry's antiterrorist department surrounded the house in Chrang Chamreh II commune at around 1 pm and arrested three Cambodian men, two of whom were identified as Cham Muslims by deputy commune chief Huot Heang.
Bith Kimhong, director of the anti-terrorist police department, said he was under orders from his superiors not to discuss the arrests while the investigation continues.
However, he denied that the suspects were linked to international terrorism.
"It is not terrorism," he said.
Deputy National Police Commissioner Sok Phal, who previously headed the Interior Ministry's powerful intelligence department and who oversaw the raid, said he would not reveal any information about the operation.
"The information we provide may allow other people involved in the case to escape," he said.
The Armbrust, which is named after the German word for crossbow, is a powerful but lightweight, shoulder-fired, unguided anti-tank weapon, which was originally developed in Germany but was later manufactured in Singapore.
Armbrusts were supplied during the 1980s to the anti-Phnom Penh resistance on the Thai border, and some found their way into Khmer Rouge hands.
The weapons discovered on Tuesday were hidden inside a long bag, Huot Heang said, adding that the three suspects, one of who he identified as Matt Sales, had been in the house for about one hour before police swooped in.
"The three people didn't know that they were followed," he added. The three didn't know how to respond to the arrest"
A senior official said on condition of anonymity that the weapons were being offered for sale to buyers from either inside or outside Cambodia. The source could not confirm whether the weapons were in the process of being passed on to a buyer, or whether a buyer was in the country. The Armbrusts may have been stolen from a Cambodian weapons depot, he said. "They are very advanced rockets," he added.
Information Minister and government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said the operation might be linked to weapons smuggling, but said it was too early to draw a conclusion. "Police are gathering information. We don't know where they got the [Armbrusts] from," he added.
Khieu Kanharith noted that Armbrusts were shipped to Cambodia before the 1997 faction fighting between forces loyal to then-First Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh and then-Second Prime Minister Hun Sen.
A number of the weapons are under the control of the Ministry of Defense and some "have not yet been collected," he added.
Defense Minister Tea Banh said that type of weapon is not part of the RCAF arsenal.
Serei Kosal, former royalist resistance leader and current Funcinpec senior minister, said the weapons were not previously the property of Funcinpec troops.
He added that Funcinpec's military power ended in 1998, when troop reintegration began in the aftermath of the 1997 fighting.
Tuesday's discovery was not the first time that Armbrusts have turned up in Russei Keo district
In April 1999, five men were arrested in the district with an Armbrust which authorities said at the time they were planing to fire at a Sokimex fuel depot.
The five were accused of being members of the Cambodian Freedom Fighters, and were reportedly waiting for someone to show them how to fire the rocket when police nabbed them.
Security experts at the time also said that the weapon was likely part of the pre-1997 arsenal of Funcinpec military forces.
Officers of the ministry's antiterrorist department surrounded the house in Chrang Chamreh II commune at around 1 pm and arrested three Cambodian men, two of whom were identified as Cham Muslims by deputy commune chief Huot Heang.
Bith Kimhong, director of the anti-terrorist police department, said he was under orders from his superiors not to discuss the arrests while the investigation continues.
However, he denied that the suspects were linked to international terrorism.
"It is not terrorism," he said.
Deputy National Police Commissioner Sok Phal, who previously headed the Interior Ministry's powerful intelligence department and who oversaw the raid, said he would not reveal any information about the operation.
"The information we provide may allow other people involved in the case to escape," he said.
The Armbrust, which is named after the German word for crossbow, is a powerful but lightweight, shoulder-fired, unguided anti-tank weapon, which was originally developed in Germany but was later manufactured in Singapore.
Armbrusts were supplied during the 1980s to the anti-Phnom Penh resistance on the Thai border, and some found their way into Khmer Rouge hands.
The weapons discovered on Tuesday were hidden inside a long bag, Huot Heang said, adding that the three suspects, one of who he identified as Matt Sales, had been in the house for about one hour before police swooped in.
"The three people didn't know that they were followed," he added. The three didn't know how to respond to the arrest"
A senior official said on condition of anonymity that the weapons were being offered for sale to buyers from either inside or outside Cambodia. The source could not confirm whether the weapons were in the process of being passed on to a buyer, or whether a buyer was in the country. The Armbrusts may have been stolen from a Cambodian weapons depot, he said. "They are very advanced rockets," he added.
Information Minister and government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said the operation might be linked to weapons smuggling, but said it was too early to draw a conclusion. "Police are gathering information. We don't know where they got the [Armbrusts] from," he added.
Khieu Kanharith noted that Armbrusts were shipped to Cambodia before the 1997 faction fighting between forces loyal to then-First Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh and then-Second Prime Minister Hun Sen.
A number of the weapons are under the control of the Ministry of Defense and some "have not yet been collected," he added.
Defense Minister Tea Banh said that type of weapon is not part of the RCAF arsenal.
Serei Kosal, former royalist resistance leader and current Funcinpec senior minister, said the weapons were not previously the property of Funcinpec troops.
He added that Funcinpec's military power ended in 1998, when troop reintegration began in the aftermath of the 1997 fighting.
Tuesday's discovery was not the first time that Armbrusts have turned up in Russei Keo district
In April 1999, five men were arrested in the district with an Armbrust which authorities said at the time they were planing to fire at a Sokimex fuel depot.
The five were accused of being members of the Cambodian Freedom Fighters, and were reportedly waiting for someone to show them how to fire the rocket when police nabbed them.
Security experts at the time also said that the weapon was likely part of the pre-1997 arsenal of Funcinpec military forces.
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