Cockfighters accused of hiding behind NGO

Police in Kampong Chhnang province have raided a cockfighting ring that was allegedly hiding its activities behind a wildlife conservation NGO.   Officers arrested four gamblers in the raid on land behind the Cambodian Wildlife Forest Fisheries Protection and Conservation Organisation, on the border between Rolear district and Kampong Chhnang town.
 

Police said they also seized five motorbikes, six phones, six cocks, two wire cages and a number of tapes during the Sunday morning raid. The suspects arrested included one Vietnamese national. Kampong Chhnang police chief Chhay Khemroth said the majority of people at the cockfight had escaped.
 

“Many people were gambling on the cockfighting, but when our forces arrived, most of them escaped and we could only arrest four people,” he said. Mr Khemroth said police would like to interview representatives of the NGO as part of the investigation.