An armed robbery on Sunday evening at a Wing money transfer outlet in Prey Veng province’s Komchay Mear district left two people with head injuries after they were pistol-whipped by five perpetrators, police said yesterday.

Provincial penal police chief Seng Sopheak identified the injured men as shop owner Say Yok, 44, and his neighbour, both residents of Seang Khveang commune: “We are trying to identify the suspects.”

A district police official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the suspects arrived at the shop at about 7pm on Sunday.

“Before the incident, the neighbour was hanging out outside the shophouse when the group of robbers arrived, pointing the gun at the neighbour and asking him to knock on the shop’s door.”

When the shopkeeper opened the door, the robbers beat him and his neighbour with a gun and forced him to collect some $700 and an unknown amount of gold for them.

The incident comes on the heels of a spate of high-profile armed robberies that prompted Deputy Prime Minister Sar Kheng to warn provincial police chiefs over their failure to crack down on violent crime.