PHNOM PENH, April 23 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni on Friday sacked a senior military official from the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces after he smuggled people across provinces amid a government ban on inter-provincial travel to curb the spread of COVID-19, according to a royal decree.
Major General Sum Pov, deputy chief of the Military Strategic Research Team, was arrested early Thursday for involving in the smuggling of 28 people from capital Phnom Penh to Svay Rieng province.
Pov had earlier received a travel permit issued by Lieutenant General Meas Vanna, chief of the Military Strategic Research Team, authorizing him to travel through the capital and provinces from April 1 to May 30, 2021.
After getting the travel permit, he had used it to smuggle the people from Phnom Penh to Svay Rieng province, which shares border with Vietnam.
Authorities said Pov had violated the government's inter-provincial travel ban, which has been imposed from April 6 to 28.
His dismissal was made at the request of Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen, according to the royal decree.
Pov will also be prosecuted under the kingdom's Anti-COVID-19 Law.
Cambodia has been suffering from the third community COVID-19 outbreak since Feb. 20. The Southeast Asian nation registered 655 new cases on Friday, pushing the total number of infections in the kingdom to 8,848 so far, with 61 deaths, the Ministry of Health said, adding that there are currently 5,633 active cases in the country. Enditem
