A couple of women could find themselves in the same position as their respective husbands, after the two allegedly tried smuggling explosives into Ratanakkiri Provincial Prison.

Sok Channy and Lay Saloeun were charged in court yesterday with offering a prisoner means to run away after the two allegedly brought a device containing quick-reacting gunpowder concealed in a packet of noodles that they attempted to deliver to their husbands, inmates Chhum Chak and Sim Seng, said Battambang deputy provincial prosecutor Long Hok Meng.

Their foiled attempt occurred when they came in together to visit their husbands in jail on Sunday morning, according to a report of the incident posted on the Ministry of Interior’s General Department of Prisons website.

“The on-duty officers checked a package of the visiting women and found out [there was] a wired object inside a package of noodles,” the report by Sam Ol Thearith, director of the prison, reada. “Our officer began cutting the package open with a knife and suddenly the package caught fire. The officers put it out and kept the package for further investigation.”

Based on initial observations from experts at the Cambodian Mine Action Centre, the package contained a number of elements used in improvised gunpowder, according to the report.

In his report, Ol Thearith said the two women tried to smuggle the explosives with “the intention of causing fear and social unrest”.