Cambodian handcuffed in Washington due to walking into a US government building with a knife

By Cambodia News

Phnom Penh (2 August, 2012): With the headline “OMG: first time I was arrested by the US Federal Police” posted on his facebook wall on Thursday, a young Cambodian man working for an international NGO, was briefly arrested with handcuffing while he was walking to the US government building in Washington DC with a fruit knife.

“They [US Federal Police] arrested and handcuffed me for about 40 minutes ONLY,” he wrote.

“This place had the same security procedure as at other government agencies. Everything went through the security scan. Then a policeman asked me to stand aside facing the wall. As they searched my suitcase, another policeman walked straight to me, pulling off his handcuffs and shackled me. I was quite surprised but I wasn’t too worried as I knew I didn’t have any bad intention” he added.

The man who used to study and work in the US said the police then walked him to a special room and started questioning with his hands shackled and “about 20 mns later, they showed me a fruit knight which I totally totally forgot it had been sitting in my suitcase for almost two weeks. So the charge was: I walked into a government building with a knife. A VERY interesting experience indeed.

According to his description, he had checked out from his hotel and gone to a meeting bringing all his belongings including a big suitcase as he “did not wanna leave my luggage at the hotel (didn’t want to go back and get it)”.

He was also one of the World Bank visitors in Washington with a pass written with “The World Bank Group VISITOR PASS July 30 12.”

This is the first time a Cambodian posted on his facebook about his bad experience in the US and this can be a lesson learn for Cambodians and other nationals who are visiting the US and other countries with tough security.