The Kampong Speu provincial court on Tuesday is questioning a 36-year-old Cambodian national following the Interior Ministry’s anti-drug police arrested him on November 13 in possession of over 1kg of methamphetamine.

The suspect was detained in Rokar Thom commune’s Trapaing Leu village in Chbar Mon town.

Provincial deputy police chief Mat Thuch said the drug suspect resides in the village.

“After arresting the suspect, the Anti-Drug Department handed him over to me on November 15 and I sent him to the court on November 16,” he said.

Thuch said a provincial prosecutor is questioning the suspect before sending him to an investigating judge for further legal action.

Anti-drug Department deputy chief In Song told The Post: “Because Kampong Speu province has jurisdiction over the case, my department handed him over to them to carry out the legal procedures,” he said.

According to a report from the Anti-Drug Department, the operation was carried out at 1:30pm on November 13 and led by Major General Kheng Sarath, the deputy chief of the Anti-Drug Department in cooperation with specialists of the Kampong Speu provincial police station.

The operation included Chat Sorasmey, the provincial court prosecutor.

The report said that police had seized methamphetamine weighing 1,285.85g from the suspect as evidence.

In the first six months of this year, police uncovered more than 4,000 cases of drug crimes – an increase of 27 per cent compared to the same period last year, according to a ministry report. Police arrested more than 8,000 people including 8,369 Cambodian and 96 Vietnamese nationals.