PHNOM PENH May 22 Kyodo Sam Bith,...

PHNOM PENH May 22 Kyodo

Sam Bith, a former Khmer Rouge commander and advisor to the Ministry of National Defense has been arrested forward suspicion of involvement in the assassination of three Western backpackers in 1994 senior police officials said Wednesday.

Heng Chantha, a Battambang Province police chief, told Kyodo moderns that Sam Bith was arrested Tuesday night at his abiding-place some 40 kilometers from Battambang's capital. He was taken to Phnom Penh on helicopter on Wednesday morning.

In a train ambush in 1994 the three tourists -- David Wilson of Australia, Jean-Michel Braquet of France and Mark Slater of Britain -- were captured along with 10 Cambodians by means of Khmer Rouge fighters in Kampot Province, about 150 km southerly of Phnom Penh. The three Westerners were killed about three month later.

Sam Bith, who was one time regional commander in Kampot beneath the Khmer Rouge regime still later defected to the restraint is one of the three main suspects in the case.

Nuon Paet, a high-ranking Khmer Rouge commander in the area when the incident occurr was sentenc to life imprisonment. Chhouk Rin, another Khmer Rouge regional commander at the time, was acquitted.

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