A task force from the Anti-Drug Department (ADP) is pursuing a Chinese man who escaped custody when prison officials took him to the Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital for treatment on the night of February 7.

The man had previously been arrested in connection with the trafficking of more than 100kg of drugs.

ADP deputy director In Song told The Post that the 57-year-old fugitive, He Yi Ri, was arrested on June 5 last year with three other Chinese suspects.

Song said he had already sent the suspect’s identification information electronically to the relevant authorities, particularly those at the border areas.

In a separate case on February 5, ADP officers also detained two Chinese men for drug trafficking and seized 10kg of methamphetamines.

The men were arrested in front of a gated community on National Road 1 in Chbar Ampov commune of Phnom Penh’s Chbar Ampov district. The arrest led to the search of a home in the gated community where the drugs were found.

One of the two men is the 29-year-old suspected ringleader who had finished serving a one year prison term just three months ago.