A member of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Bodyguard Unit, who also works as a security guard at Golden Sorya Mall in Phnom Penh, was arrested yesterday for pulling his gun on a colleague during an early morning altercation at the venue in Daun Penh district.

District military police officer Thong Piseth said local gendarmerie forces had arrested the man after the incident at 1am and sent him to their colleagues at Phnom Penh municipal military police.

Piseth acknowledged the suspect was Sum Veng, who was identified by local media as a Bodyguard Unit captain but declined to provide further details about the case.

According to local news reports, Veng and three men, who were intoxicated, clashed with the head night-shift guard when the latter demanded to know why the soldier had brought his friends into the mall’s security office.

Veng – who managed the mall’s day shift, according to a guard at the mall yesterday – pulled his gun from his waist band and attempted to load a bullet though district military police arrived to intervene, according to local media.

Speaking yesterday, a local motodop who declined to be named said the pair “did not get along well”.

According to a document leaked to local outlets, which was allegedly signed by Bodyguard Unit Deputy Commander Suos Sina on May 20, Veng is a member of the 511 Intervention Unit and was permitted to carry a K54 pistol in the city and provinces.