On 16 August, five VOD journalists (Mom Munyrath, Hean Rangsey, Kiet Sorith Theary, Hy Chay and Danielle Keeton-Olsen) were arrested by members of the Prime Minister's bodyguard unit while they were inspecting the reforestation efforts of Phnom Tamao following its clearing the week before. One journalist was slapped by an officer. The journalists were first taken to a military camp before being detained for seven hours at the district police station and questioned. Authorities confiscated their material but handed it back to them upon their release. Authorities accused them of entering an area that was restricted, despite no information about this restriction being public at the time of their arrest. The next day, the chief of the Bodyguard Unit said the area was open to visitors but that they had to use the front entrance to see the authorities' replanting efforts. He said that pictures of the cleared area could "cause a problem" and added "We want [people] to take pictures of what we already planted. The place near the hill is not yet finished so it looks bad when they shoot it".