$50,000 heist outside Acleda bank might be fake, police say

THE PHNOM PENH POST

Written by Chhay Channyda
Thursday, 09 October 2008

A man was attacked by two assailants with a hammer outside the bank's main branch, but police reviewing footage are suspicious

PHNOM Penh police say they suspect an alleged armed robbery outside Acleda Bank's Monivong Boulevard headquarters on Tuesday was a fake.

Municipal police chief Touch Naruth said the incident, in which some US$50,000 in cash was reportedly stolen from Taiwanese businessman Ly Minh Yang while he was in the bank's parking lot, could have been staged.

A security video of the incident appears to show Ly Minh Yang being followed into the bank's parking lot by two men on motorcycles who then hit him on the head with a hammer, Touch Naruth said.

"They used a hammer to hit Ly Minh Yang on the head but it didn't look like he even bled," he said. "We have to view the video many times because the picture isn't clear."

There must be an "in-depth investigation", he said, urging Acleda to be more vigilant about their security.

Beefing up security

Acleda says it is planning to beef up security at its Phnom Penh headquarters in response to the incident.

An Acleda official who did not wish to be named said the three cameras monitoring the bank's parking area 24 hours a day had not been sufficient to prevent the robbery.

"We will install more video cameras, deploy more security guards outside the bank to strengthen security," he said, adding that the 20-second recording of the robbery has been handed over to police.