Phnom Penh: The two dead bodies recently discovered in Phnom Penh are believed to be foreign nationals. Locals in Kamrieng Village in the capital’s Kamboul district told EAC News that no locals have been reported missing in recent months and say the clothes found at the scene do not look familiar either. The area where the bodies of a man and a woman were found this past week is surrounded by factories.

An area contained. Trash and plastic bottles everywhere. Two shallow holes dug out of the ground, with some human remains even left behind. This is how the crime scene looks after a police forensic investigation. The male victim, believed to be between 45 and 60 years old, had gunshot wounds. The female victim, estimated to be around 35 to 40 years old, had a fractured skull. Kamboul district deputy police chief Chhim Savuth says they are treating it as a homicide, that appears to have happened about six months ago.

EAC News spoke to the village chief. So Sarorn says no-one has been reported missing in the area or even nearby. "I think these people buried were not from our village because no one has lost a family member. From the clothes they were wearing, they don’t look like from here. They must be from a very far place. This is the first time it happened in my village. It never happened before.”

Local warehouse owner, Him Sovann, says there has been a lot of foot-traffic here in recent months, with the area popular for dope smokers. “Many many people but all of them are farmer. Many people but not the businessmen only the farmers come here to do the farming because there are many farms here.”

Kamrieng Village resident, Meas Rorn, says she’s scared about what’s happened with her home being just along the main road.

She says she’s seen people in cars going to the place where the bodies were found. “I have been living here for three years and never been scared until this happened. Now, we, my family members are so afraid at night that we don’t even have the courage to go out to the toilet. We also go to sleep early now. Before the dead bodies were found, we normally go to bed at around eight to nine in the evening. But now, we all go to sleep at seven.”

With the crime scene investigation complete, police are now hunting for those responsible. The bodies were buried on the side of a small road, around 200 metres from the main road. As we can see here, the area has already been cordoned off by the investigating team. But three big questions will need answering: who were these people, what exactly led to their deaths and just why were they murdered.

^{PHOTO BY: SARY 31-09-2021}