A former chief security guard at the Roo Hsing Garment Co factory was sentenced yesterday to four years in prison for conspiring with two thieves to steal more than 1,000 items of clothing from the factory in April.

The case is the first of two involving the beleaguered factory this year, with 20,000 pairs of jeans stolen in a separate incident last month. Security guards were also implicated in the most recent heist.

Him Thol, 40, who allowed the thieves to enter the Russey Keo district factory on the night of April 4, is to serve two years in prison after Phnom Penh Municipal Court judges handed down a partially suspended four-year sentence yesterday.

Thol had been charged as an accomplice to robbery with aggravating circumstances.

Tuol Sangke commune chief Huy Hean said that 100 shirts, 400 pairs of shorts and 500 pairs of trousers had been stolen from Roo Hsing, which supplies brands including Levi’s and H&M, in the incident.

“He allowed two thieves who were his friends [to] enter the factory at midnight and steal clothes,” he said, citing CCTV footage.

“He then ordered [them] to bring those stolen clothes for sale and to share the money.”

Thol’s accomplices escaped and are yet to be found.

During his hearing that took place on October 6, the guard said that he had only agreed to work with the thieves because he could not support his family on his meagre salary.

Last month, export-ready jeans worth close to $1 million retail were stolen from Roo Hsing after a group of four guards allegedly drugged their colleagues’ coffee.

Three suspected accomplices to the guards were arrested days later as they were allegedly selling off the jeans at a local market.

Russey Keo district police chief Tean Chansar said yesterday that the four guards still have not been caught.

Lak Daramony, the human resources manager at Roo Hsing, said that the factory had switched security companies after the two robberies involving guards.

“We have also set up more [CCTV] cameras and Japanese-made alarm systems,” she said.