Preah Sihanouk provincial police on June 20 continued to investigate a Cambodian man arrested on June 19 for allegedly shooting an officer in the leg on June 16.

Three modern firearms were seized during the arrest, according to provincial police chief Chuon Narin.

Narin said the arrest came after his forces apprehended the suspect’s Vietnamese companion earlier this month on the provincial court’s arrest warrant. The court also ordered the Cambodian man to be held. Officers are searching for the source of the man’s weapons including two handguns and a sub-machine gun.

“This man was involved in the use of illegal weapons and injured a police officer. We are taking action to investigate further,” he said.

Narin added that the case had gone viral on social media, but he did not believe his officers had shared the images. It seemed that the people who posted them had received the shots from other sources and then posted them, he said. Although they certainly had the best of intentions, Narin warned that such posts could affect the investigation process.

A provincial police officer who asked not to be named said Yin Thara, a 35-year-old welder from Arey Ksat commune’s Arey Ksat village in Kandal province’s Lvea Em district, was arrested at his home by Preah Sihanouk police in collaboration with the Lvea Em district police force before being transferred to Preah Sihanouk.

“The police are following up on suspicions that this man has links to illegal weapons network,” he added.

He said police seized two Glock pistols and a Czech made sub-machine gun – along with 426 rounds of ammunition and two magazines for each weapon – in the raid.