Cambodia News, (Battambang Province): Police are currently searching for the driver of an "Indian" tuktuk in Battambang, who took a foreign woman down some dark streets instead of driving her to her hotel as instructed. She injured herself jumping out of the motorcycle taxi (tuktuk).

The woman arrived in Battambang on August 5, 2023, on the night bus at around 4am, and hired a tuktuk from the bus station to take her to her hotel where she had reserved a room. But instead of driving on the main road into town, the driver drove off in the wrong direction down some dark alleys out of the bus station, and he ignored the woman's repeated requests to go to the hotel. When she asked him to stop, the man drove even faster, and the woman then became afraid, so she shouted for help and jumped out of the moving tuktuk on to the road, where she injured her face and broke a bone in her hand as she fell. The tuktuk was driving so fast and recklessly that it hit a pole and left broken glass at the scene.

Fortunately, a local person came to the woman's rescue, and later posted about her shocking experience on social media. The police came to question the tourist at her hotel, but they have not yet identified the culprit. However, there were other tuktuk drivers at the station when the woman arrived on the night bus, and there are cameras around the bus station and in some streets nearby.


Battambang City Inspector Pich Saren said that his forces were tracking down the driver of the tuktuk. Police are questioning people at the station as well as viewing the CCTV films in the area, and they know that the tuktuk has been damaged.
The authorities are anxious to find and punish the criminal driver, who gives a bad reputation to Battambang and could scare away future tourists to the city.

UPDATE

Cambodia News, Battambang: Cambodian social media commenters are very angry, and even the Cambodian PM has offered his assistance, after learning that a Battambang tuktuk driver with malicious intent on a foreign woman passenger tried to drive her down a quiet road in order to rob and molest her.



The woman tourist arrived in Battambang early in the morning on the night bus and she hired the PassApp tuktuk to take her to her hotel reservation. When the woman saw that the driver was not taking her to the hotel, she asked him several times where he was going, but he only drove faster. In the end, the woman panicked and she jumped from the moving tuktuk on to the concrete road, causing broken fingers and facial injuries, as evidenced by the photos.

Furthermore, after seeing this attack against the foreign woman, who is a French medical student in Phnom Penh, Samdech Techo HE, the Prime Minister of Cambodia, sent an assistant, Mr. Keo Phong, to help solve the problem of the foreign woman named Helene D. and also provided some money to pay for the treatment of her injuries.

They named her too, although it looks like she's turning this into an Instagram moment...

Can hardly wait till they find the driver.

UPDATE: ARREST !

Cambodia News, (Battambang Province): Battambang police have arrested a tuktuk driver, who was identified as 29-year-old Tep Phaly alias Linh, found hiding in his house in Kamakor village, Svay Por commune. He was taken for questioning by the Battambang Municipal Inspector, in collaboration with the Provincial Commissioner's Office of Minor Offenses.

At around 4 a.m. on August 5, a tuktuk driver named Tep Phali picked up a French woman tourist at the bus station, planning to rob her. He drove her down dark back streets in Anchanh village, Ocha Neang commune, where the woman shouted for him to stop. She then jumped from the tuktuk with her backpack into the street to escape, injuring herself and damaging the tuktuk, leaving broken glass.

After 2 days of investigation, the target was clearly identified and he was arrested at home by Battambang police. The police also confiscated an Indian tricycle with cracked glass on the left side due to the French woman's escape. In connection with this incident, the suspect, Pet Phali, alias Lin, admitted to police that he intended to rob the foreign woman. He saw this foreign woman with a big bag, so he took her to a quiet street in order to steal that bag. (Robbery purpose).



With the arrest of the tuktuk driver, the police recalled his scandalous history: this person named Pet Phaly alias Ly, was previously arrested by the provincial commissioner's professional force and was sentenced to four years in prison for theft. Authorities revealed that the former convict had been identified as an active thief and bag snatcher in Battambang City. He acted as a tricycle rider at night, just as an excuse to find a chance to commit a crime, but now he has to go back to jail again because of malicious intent against the French foreign women.

Tep Phaly alias Linh
Pet Phali, alias Lin
Pet Phaly alias Ly

Lucky to be alive by the sounds of it, could of been another missing persons case.

ItWasntMe wrote: ↑Tue Aug 08, 2023 1:50 pm Tep Phaly alias Linh
Pet Phali, alias Lin
Pet Phaly alias Ly

Typical - the guy has several possible names and aliases, no fixed abode, and no verifiable ID or family. He could be anyone.
At least the cops had a record of his jailtime. Good job that he was found and arrested.

Highlights the complete lack of verification / checks that go on for PassApp drivers, not a good advertisement for them as a safe, reliable transport option is it?
The guy was basically a convicted career thief, probably not someone you should be giving a license to, to pick up and transport tourists.