Two suspects may owe their lives to the police who arrested them, after the officers stepped in on a mob of villagers who were beating them senseless after an alleged robbery attempt.

On Tuesday night, Lem Heng, 32 and Chan Sothy, 22, both of Phnom Penh’s Russey Keo district, invited their 23-year-old victim, Tochy Rasy, and his wife, Chea Vimean, 18, out for a night of drinking, said Kan Vannak, police chief of Daun Penh district’s Srah Chak commune.

The couple, who only met Heng and Sothy a few nights before, accepted the invitation.

As the victims headed home, Heng and Sothy tried to steal their motorbike in Srah Chak, Vannak said. But when nearby residents heard the victims shouting for help, a mob gathered around the would-be thieves and began pummelling them.

“The suspects were saved in time by the police,” Vannak said.

Heng and Sothy were both arrested and sent to the Daun Penh district police station for questioning, Vannak said.