IN a joint raid on an illegal mining operation, conducted by the departments of environment, mines and energy, and police in Battambang province’s Phnom Prek district on Sunday, over 9,000 kilograms of raw materials and explosives were confiscated.

The materials belonged to Chinese company Phou Yang, with the two provincial departments impounding the seized items, according to Kort Boran, the provincial Department of Environment director.

“We inspected items and sorted them into categories so as to prepare them for transportation to be impounded at the relevant institutions,” he said.

Boran said the “illegal” raw materials seized can be harmful to human health, and that the explosive ammunition posed an obvious danger.

“I cannot tell you all [of what we confiscated], because there are too many. We loaded it all into one big truck,” he said, declining to elaborate.

The National Police’s website said the Office of Explosive Weapons Management of the provincial police department inspected the ammunition at the Phuo Yang mine, which weighed approximately 9,487 kilograms.

On June 3, the National Commission for Natural Resource Prevention inspected seven gold mining sites in Battambang, two of which were legal.

One was owned by the president of the Community of Craftsmen and Gold Mining in the province, Lay Srey Pov, and the other by Phou Yang. However, the other five sites did not have legal permits and were immediately shut down.