Defying a police order, villagers in Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district took the law into their own hands, savagely beating a suspected home invader.

Residents said they had formed a neighbourhood watch unit due to break-ins.

On Tuesday, a man broke into a flat and was met by a group of villagers.

They surrounded the thief, and beat him unconscious, leaving him in a pool of blood, before police intervened and arrested the man.

rasmei Kampuchea