Anti-drug Department police sent two Korean men to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Sunday for attempting to send a bag of methamphetamine weighing over 1kg to South Korea. Authorities detained the pair at Tuol Tompoung I commune, in the capital’s Chamkarmon district.

Department deputy chief In Song identified the suspects as 51-year-old Song Min-soo, and 50-year-old Choi Min-young.

“Experts from my departments have already questioned them and we sent them to court,” In Song said.

Song Min-soo had previously been issued an arrest warrant by Interpol while a South Korean court had also issued an arrest warrant for him.

In Song said neither suspect will be deported to South Korea as officials found evidence of a crime committed in Cambodia.

“The suspects attempted to send drugs to South Korea, but experts investigated and stopped them. They have to receive punishment in Cambodia before being deported to South Korea,” he said.

This operation was conducted on Thursday at 3:30pm and facilitated by Phnom Penh Municipal Court deputy prosecutor Plang Sophal, he said.

The suspects were detained at Wisdom Apartment and The Diamond Home 1 apartment.

Officials confiscated 1.39kg of methamphetamine, a car, three mobile phones, two weighing scales and tools for packaging drugs, Song said.