A Nigerian man charged with drug trafficking told the Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday that he did not know the packet he was handling contained methamphetamine.

John Vitalis Enekwenchi, 30, and his Cambodian girlfriend, Hun Ti, 28, were arrested in April 2015 after police allegedly caught them with 197 grams of meth in Daun Penh district.

Enekwenchi said a white foreigner near Sorya Mall asked him to hand a packet to a woman near Wat Phnom in exchange for $200. After he accepted the packet, anti-drug police arrived and chased him down.

“I really confess to this, but I did not realise that it was drugs inside,” John said at his hearing yesterday.

“I was promised to be given $200, but failed to get the money. Please reduce my sentence and release my girlfriend, she’s innocent.”

Seu Vanny, the court’s deputy prosecutor, stuck to the charges and did not recommend leniency. “The accused received a commission for drug trafficking,” she said.

According to his testimony, Enekwenchi has lived in Cambodia since 2014, mostly in Phnom Penh after a brief stint in Siem Reap. The verdict is due to be issued on February 29.