Concerned residents in the BKK have joined together to alert the general public's awareness to increased incidences of armed crime in the capital city. Reading the following incident reports (that may or may not have been reported to the police) a pattern emerges: three people on a moto, the back person jumps off with gun and mugs the unsuspecting person.
Below is an excerpt from a Weekly UN Security Report
3 June: Mugging, unconfirmed
A mugging on the corner of st 352 and 57 - always a dodgy corner. A western woman walking back from Gasolina at 10ish was mugged and rumors say that a guard said it sounded violent.
9 June: Armed Robbery, confirmed
Street 57 and 302.
International woman working for an NGO was robbed at knifepoint on June 9th between 9:45-9:55pm, The location of the incident was in front of the NGO, Center For Social Development. The victim was out for an evening walk, alone.
She was wearing gym shorts, a t-shirt, and running shoes. She had a cell phone, IPod, and around $3 in riel on her. At the time of the incident she was listening to an IPod. All of the sudden near the corner of Street 302 at what I would estimate around 9:45pm-9:55pm, a new black Honda moto with three Khmer men, somewhere between the ages of 16-24, drove very close to me and parked diagonally in front of her path.
All of the men were nicely dressed in dress black pants and ironed dress shirts. The men looked like young guys who were going to go out to a club. They were all clean shaven and had lean, skinny builds. None of them stood out as being much taller, fatter, or more muscular than another. Because of how they were dressed in nice clothing and on a nice moto, it didn't register with the woman that they wanted to rob her, so tried to step around the moto. The front two never got off the moto the back one approached her. He had a switchblade knife in his right hand and pointed it upwards and toward her. The knife was about 1.5 times bigger than a Swiss army knife. She estimates it had a 3-4 inch blade length and was definitely a switchblade, not a dagger or a kitchen knife.
The mugger is described as a man of Khmer ethnicity who was somewhere between 16-24 years old, 5'5'', 120-140 pounds, black hair neatly trimmed (not long or scruffy), no moustache and no facial hair. He was not muscular, had small shoulders and was quite skinny to my eye. He was a short man, but not exceptionally short or out of the ordinary. Nothing in his build was outside the ordinary for many Khmer men that I see in that age group.
9 June Armed Robbery, confirmed
Street 57 near Sihanouk Boulevard: Reported to Embassy but not police.
On Monday 9 June, a female international was robbed at gunpoint on Street 57 near the Comme a la Maison restaurant and Sihanouk Boulevard. Time of the occurrence was 1000pm. She and a male colleague, who was staying at the Goldiana Hotel were walking down the street, when 2 motos, with 2 persons on each moto pulled up in front of the pair, and brandished a revolver. The female international gave them her handbag and they sped away quickly. Robbers described as young on new motos.
June 17 Armed Robbery
Street 360: Reported by UNAKRT to authorities.
At about 6:15pm three UNAKRT staff members were walking past house number 9 on Street 360 when two motor scooters (motos) rode towards them from Norodom Boulevard. One moto was carrying two males and the second moto had three males all Cambodians. The motos stopped near the three UNAKRT staff and passengers on both motos pointed two guns at the staff. One of the passengers approached two of the staff, took their handbags than both motos left the scene, turned onto Street 51 and headed in a Southerly direction.
The staff members described the assailants as young males 16-20 years old - typical Cambodian youths. Neither of the motos had licence plates fitted.
Unconfirmed day - Street 312, 16.30pm
- three people on a moto and back person jumped off with a gun.
Unconfirmed day - Street 57, just after 10pm
- two females were on a moto and stoppd at their house. A moto with three Khmer men came up to them and tried to mug them. One of the women ran for safety and alerted the house guards screaming loudly. The muggers got scared and ran off. She didn't see if they had weapons or not.
Please report all incidents to your embassy and police.