Police solve crime with bananas

Cambodian police have found a novel way of making criminal suspects come clean - by feeding them bananas.

Two teenagers were subjected to the unorthodox interrogation after being arrested for allegedly stealing five bags of soap powder from a parked car in the capital, Phnom Penh.

The Cambodian press had originally reported that officers force-fed the suspects bananas until they felt so sick that they confessed.

But a senior policeman said that, in fact, the bananas were offered as an act of kindness.

"They were hungry and annoyed and they refused to answer our questions," Yim Simony told the Cambodian Daily newspaper.

"But after they ate the bananas, they answered the questions," he said, adding that they confessed to the theft.