Authorities have arrested five suspects in relation to a grenade that detonated outside NagaWorld after being found inside a cake by a street cleaner.
On Thursday, Cintri street cleaner Pov Savy found a cake wrapped in paper and ribbons around 6 a.m. outside Phnom Penh casino NagaWorld 2. She carried it to a grassy median at the center of National Assembly Blvd., and after examining it and feeling its unusual weight, saw wires coming out.
“I told myself, maybe this is a bomb. I took my cart and walked away with weak knees,” Savy told VOD on Thursday.
The Cambodian Mine Action Center arrived to the scene, and as it was taking safety precautions around the area, the bomb exploded around 8 a.m. No one was injured.
Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak said on Friday that authorities had tracked down the car that dropped off the cake outside NagaWorld, and arrested five suspects, including some Chinese nationals.
“We have found the owner of the car. From this evidence, we can find other suspects and bring them to court,” he said.
Sopheak repeated his assertion from Thursday that investigators believed the case was not related to terrorism or politics. “This case is about individuals,” he said, without elaborating. On Thursday, he said authorities suspected the motive could be related to gambling.
He could not give further details as investigations were ongoing, he said.