More than 20 Banteay Meas district police officers were yesterday deployed at specific locations in Kampot province to search for four men who had escaped after shooting a farmer during an unsuccessful robbery on Wednesday.

According to district police chief Sorn Ro, four armed robbers had barged into the home of 42-year-old farmer Dun Thim in Banteay Meas Kang Lech’s Thnong village and demanded that he and his family members – his wife and three children – hand over their money and possessions at gunpoint. When Thim tried to escape to seek help from his neighbours, he was shot in his right ankle.

“The robbers managed to get away immediately,” Ro said, adding that authorities had retrieved the casing of a pistol round at the site.

While maintaining that the police had clues as to the robbers’ identities and hideout, Ro said that it was “not convenient” to reveal information other than that the armed robbers “belonged to the same village” as the victims, adding that authorities were laying in wait for the suspects.