Police raided a guest house in Srah Chork commune of Phnom Penh’s Daun Penh district on May 21, arresting 19 people, including eight women. Police
In the month since the launch of the National Authority for Combating Drugs’ (NACD) NoDrug app, over 8,600 people have downloaded it to make anonymous reports about drug issues in their communities.
Neth Pheaktra, Minister of Information and chair of the Education and Dissemination Commission of the Anti-Illegal Drug Campaign, described this as a positive step in education and the fight against drugs by using fast, modern social media.
“The number of people downloading and using the app will continue to rise, meaning more and more people will join in the work of combating illegal drugs,” he said, while calling for more citizens to involve themselves in reporting drug-related issues.
The NoDrug app was made available for public download on April 23. It was designed to strengthen and expand public awareness of the effects and dangers of drugs to people in every corner of the Kingdom, so they will have the knowledge they need to keep themselves, their friends and families away from illegal drugs.
In addition, they can use the app to file anonymous reports about drug-related issues to the authorities.
Several instances of drug use and trafficking have been reported via the app, enabling the police to mount successful anti-drug operations.
After receiving a tip-off, police raided a guest house in Srah Chork commune of Phnom Penh’s Daun Penh district on May 21, arresting 19 people, including eight women. Some 14 packages of narcotics and related paraphernalia were discovered and seized from 10 rooms of the guest house, according to the NACD.
Yong Kim Eng, president of the People Center for Development and Peace, believed that when members of the public used the app to report a possible crime, NACD officials should respond as swiftly as possible.
This will demonstrate the benefits of the mobile app and help to improve the effective combating of the drug problem.
Kim Eng noted however, that some previous good governance programmes left some people disappointed when they made a report to the authorities, but it went unanswered, or the issue remained unsolved.
“When the app is more widely used by the public, the NACD will collect more important information. The more reports are made, the more effective the fight against drugs will be,” he said.
Along with the use of the app, Kim Eng urged local authorities to expedite education about the safe village-commune policy to people.
In addition to allowing people to submit reports to the authorities, the app also contains a wide range of drug-related information, entertainment linked to educational messages, exams and the locations of rehabilitation centres and programmes.
