Kampot province’s Chhouk district police arrested 11 Chinese men for attempting to travel from Preah Sihanouk province to Phnom Penh without permission, breaking a government ban on inter-provincial travel amid the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak.
Provincial police chief Mao Chanmathurith told The Post that on the morning of April 20, Chhouk district police spotted a truck on National Road 4 travelling from Sihanouk province to the capital.
The truck had Phnom Penh license plates, raising the police’s suspicion.
The truck was passing through the district’s Trameng commune, where police stopped the vehicle and found the hidden men.
"Chhouk district police told the truck driver to stop but he refused. So, police chased [the truck] until Trameng commune’s Ang Khlai village. The driver then agreed to stop, but escaped,” said Chanmathurith.
"The 11 men ran out of the truck when it stopped. But we managed to arrest them all. They had hidden in the truck and used goods as a cover," he said.
Chanmathurith said authorities were searching to arrest the driver.
District police are questioning the 11 suspects before proceeding with the case.
On April 6, the government imposed a temporary ban on inter-provincial travel to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
