Five armed men staged a daring daylight robbery and made off with $100,000 from RHB Indonchina Bank, located at Mao Tse Toung Boulevard on Thursday afternoon.
Although initial details remain sketchy, local media outlets said the gang took only 15 minutes to carry out the crime. Police have arrested one suspect so far.
The Ministry of Interior’s Penal Police Department chief Ngeng Chuo said police investigations are ongoing.
“It has been a few hours since the robbery, and police do not have enough information yet,” he said, declining to divulge further details.
A security guard deployed at the bank, who declined to be named, told The Post that the suspects entered the bank like any other customer.
“The incident occurred between 11:40 to 11:55 am. The police arrived after the robbery and checked the bank’s surveillance cameras which showed about five male robbers.
“They wore masks and gloves and were armed with two pistols. They pointed the pistols at the staff,” he said, based on the camera footage.
After ransacking the bank, the men were believed to have escaped on their motorcycles.
Police cordoned off the bank’s premises after the incident and security was tightened around the area. The bank’s operations were temporarily suspended as police carried out investigations.
A bank employee, who also declined to be named, said only private security personnel were guarding the bank and it was easy for anyone to break in.
“Armed guards should be hired to protect the bank but at the moment, only private security forces are doing the job,” said the staff.
A Chamkarmon district security guard told The Post that police forces from the ministry and Phnom Penh commissariat police arrived at the crime scene immediately after the robbery.
Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak and National Police spokesman Kirt Chanthearith could not be reached for comments.
Until press time, the authorities have not released any official statement. In an unrelated incident, in July, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court issued a warrant to temporarily detain eight men for using illegal weapons to guard several banks in the capital.
The suspects were sent to court after officials discovered they had disguised themselves as national police and army officers. Police confiscated 10 pistols from the suspects.
