The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the 25-year jail term of a woman found guilty of dealing in 1.5 kilograms of methamphetamine and heroin in Phnom Penh in 2016.

Presiding Judge Soeng Panhavuth read out the verdict with the convicted woman, Hang Ching Ching, acknowledging that she had previously admitted having committed the crime. However, she appealed to the court to show leniency and reduce the sentence.

“The accused was caught red-handed in a drug deal and convicted. After deliberations, the council has decided to uphold the 25-year prison sentence passed by the lower court. The detention will continue,” Panhavuth said.

According to the police report, on the morning of January 24, 2016, Ching Ching, 25, received a telephone call from an unidentified man to pick up a package near the Pet Chin traffic lights on Monivong Boulevard.

She was to deliver it to a person by the name of Kang Ching Chen, at Nagaworld, when she was arrested after police found methamphetamine and heroin in the package.

Police are on the lookout for Ching Chen, 50, who was sentenced in absentia to life in prison.

The case was first sent to trial at Phnom Penh Municipal Court on August 31, 2016. The verdict was handed down on September 16, the same year.