Kiri Vong district authorities in Takeo province are investigating an incident involving the “use of a weapon to make death threats” by the deputy chief of the provincial police’s minor crime bureau.

District police chief Yuk Sarath told The Post on April 25 that the deputy bureau chief, 50-year-old Tun Udom, had allegedly beaten the complainant, Thea Kiri, 42, who worked as a security guard at a casino in Phnom Den commune on the Vietnamese border.

Citing the victim’s complaint, Sarath said that on the evening of April 23 Udom pulled out a pistol and threatened to shoot Kiri at the casino in the commune’s Phsar village.

He continued that Kiri allegedly had an affair with a woman who worked near the casino whom the suspect was also romantically involved with.

“We’ve referred [Kiri’s] complaint to the provincial police’s minor crimes bureau for review first in accordance with legal procedures,” he said.

Yong Nhiv, the bureau chief, told The Post that he had assigned the investigation to the district police to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest.

“At this time, I have not yet received a detailed report from the district police regarding their findings, but we consider this an individual dispute not related to the unit,” he said.

According to Nhiv, an inspector from the National Police had been in touch with his bureau on April 25 to make certain that they took action in accordance with the law if it was determined that Udom committed the crime as alleged by the complainant.

Udom could not be reached for comment on April 25.