A Chinese national was shot dead in Preah Sihanouk on August 22. Police
Preah Sihanouk provincial police continued to investigate the fatal shooting on Saturday of a Chinese national in Village I, in Mittapheap district’s Commune IV, and another case in which a group of foreigners beat up a translator on Friday.
Sihanouk provincial police chief Chuon Narin said on Sunday that police were attempting to identify and locate those responsible.
Provincial deputy police chief Major General Kul Phaly confirmed that the police were searching for the suspects in both incidents.
“We are giving both cases our full attention. We have not yet identified the offenders but we know they are Chinese nationals,” he said, adding that the shooting occurred on Saturday at a guesthouse in Commune IV’s Village I.
The National Police said two Chinese nationals rode a motorbike to the victim’s guesthouse where they shot him in the head before escaping, leaving him dead in a pool of blood.
Police identified the victim as Shi Changhui but said the motive for the killing had not yet been established.
In a separate incident on Friday, a group of Chinese nationals beat up a man before immediately fleeing the scene in a car. Again, the police are as yet unaware of the motive for the attack.
On July 23, 25-year-old Chinese woman Zhang Dan, who worked at SV World Casino and Hotel in Sihanoukville, was shot dead while she was walking home from the casino with her boyfriend.
Narin said the next day that the authorities were on the lookout for two Chinese nationals in relation to the shooting.
On May 6, a Chinese man was shot and killed in a car before being thrown from the vehicle. Two Chinese nationals were arrested a few hours later.
Soeng Sen Karuna, the senior investigator at rights group Adhoc, wondered at the time how a foreign individual could get a hold of firearms, despite “strict security controls at the airports”.
“I am afraid the police may know the source of those weapons. There may be some powerful and influential individuals from the army behind them. “If that is the case, it would be very difficult for the police to target the people behind the guns,” he claimed.
Sen Karuna noted that in theory, finding the source of firearms should not be too difficult when the police have detained the user. He said the police could question suspects on where, how and from whom they procured their gun,” he said.
