Phnom Penh Streetcleaner Finds Exploding Grenade Cake Outside Casino

[CEOCambodiaNews]

Grenade Found in Cake Outside NagaWorld, Explodes
2 min read
Keat Soriththeavy and Meng Kroypunlok
| Thu Dec 15, 2022 6:26 pm

A grenade was wired to a detonator, hidden in a cake and placed on the roadside this morning outside NagaWorld casino — then picked up by a street cleaner who moved it onto a grassy road median, where it exploded two hours later.

No one was injured in the explosion, which authorities say was likely unrelated to terrorism or politics, but possibly involved gambling problems.

Pov Savy, a Cintri street cleaner, told VOD on Thursday that she saw the cake wrapped in ribbons and paper around 6 a.m. outside NagaWorld 2.

She was curious about how heavy it was, and moved it into the grassy median at the center of National Assembly Blvd. She brushed it with her broom, and tried pulling out the cardboard on the bottom of the cake, but it wouldn’t budge.
She looked closer, and saw wires.

“I told myself, maybe this is a bomb. I took my cart and walked away with weak knees,” Savy said.

She called her taxi driver friend, who called authorities. Savy added that she still felt scared, and that she had told her manager about it but got no response.

The bomb exploded at around 8 a.m.

Heng Ratana, director of the Cambodian Mine Action Center, (CMAC), said his explosive experts had gone to the scene but were not standing close to the grenade.

“There was an explosion, but we didn’t explode it. We were far away from it and it just exploded. We were taking safety measures,” Ratana said.

A tuk-tuk driver recalled roadblocks in the area at the time. “I am so scared. The explosion was very loud.”

Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak said a witness had seen a Range Rover drop off “the thing” before the cleaner picked it up.

Based on looking up the car’s license plate, the suspects could be Chinese or Cambodian, he said. Investigators did not consider the case to be terrorism or politics, but it could be related to gambling, Sopheak added, but he did not elaborate why.

“We’re investigating now to find the suspects.”
https://vodenglish.news/grenade-found-i ... -explodes/

[Ghostwriter]

That was the street cleaner's lucky day.
Time for her to go casino !

[rozzieoz]

What the hell??

[CEOCambodiaNews]

Photos from CEN

[Doc67]

authorities say was likely unrelated to terrorism or politics, but possibly involved gambling problems.

That was quick, even by Cambodian standards.

Now they just have to track down a man with a Range Rover who can (1) obtain a grenade and (2) make a bomb which included removing the pin and connecting it to a detonator and (3) delivering it to one of the most secure and surveilled buildings in the city. All without blowing himself up or getting caught.

That sounds a lot like the a skill set that fits one of the above swiftly discounted motives.

[canucklhead]

Would have been a bang of a birthday for somebody.

[mi1]

That's why they closed all roads around naga yesterday..

[CEOCambodiaNews]

UPDATE: Four people have now been arrested in the case of a cake-grenade left outside Nagaworld Casino, and preliminary investigation of the incident by Cambodian police indicates that the motive for the bomb scare is linked to Chinese casino criminal activity.

37 mins ago - BREAKING NEWS
Chinese, Cambodian nationals arrested for planting bomb in central Phnom Penh
Four Chinese nationals and a Cambodian woman have been arrested on suspicion of involvement in leaving a bomb in central Phnom Penh – that is suspected to be part of foreign criminal activities.

This was confirmed by Lt. Gen. Chhay Kim Khoeun, Deputy Commissioner General and Spokesman of the National Police to local news.

According to the General, the suspects were arrested by the Chamkar Mon District Police Inspectorate in collaboration with the Criminal Police Department of the Ministry of Interior at No. 19. Borey Peng Huoth, Boeung Snor, Street M-02, Sangkat Niroth, Khan Chbar Ampov, Phnom Penh.

The incident unfolded in the morning of December 15, 2022, when a grenade – caked in a white substance – was found on National Assembly Road, Sangkat Tonle Bassac, Khan Chamkarmon, Phnom Penh.

The bomb was found by a Cintri garbage disposal employee in a white bag and reported to the company’s security.

After finding this bomb, CMAC (Cambodian Mine Action Centre) specialists made it safe*.

The people arrested have been named as:
-Yang Jaikang, male, 26 years old, Chinese
-Tu Linan, female, 23 years old, Chinese
-Yang Yudong, male, 25 years old, Chinese
-Chen Di, male, 29 years old, Chinese
-Suong Srey Oun, female, 36 years old, Cambodian

Currently, the suspects, including the exhibits, have been sent to the Criminal Police Department of the Ministry of Interior for further action.
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501203949/ ... -planting/

*Other sources said that the grenade exploded without being induced. In either case, nobody was hurt.

[techietraveller84]

More Chinese involved in criminal gang activity...At least it was targeting a casino and not a hospital or school. Definitely seems to be related to gang or gambling activity.

[Jerry Atrick]

Like something out of Wile E Coyote