Police and suspects stand beside seized evidence on Tuesday. Police
The Interior Ministry’s Anti-Drug Department officers are questioning three individuals from Banteay Meanchey province in connection with the trafficking of about eight kg of drugs following their arrest on December 15 in Kbal Spean I village, Poipet town, Banteay Meanchey.
Anti-Drug Department deputy director Yin Panharith said on December 17 that the suspects involved in the drug trafficking were a 45-year-old woman and two men aged 16 and 40. They lived in the village where the raid and arrest took place.
He said that as of December 17 the authorities had not yet taken a complete inventory of the drugs seized and were still questioning the suspects.
“The suspects and evidence only arrived in Phnom Penh on December 16. We haven’t finished our questioning yet. The total weight of the drugs is about seven to eight kg,” he said.
According to Panharith, this group of drug traffickers was linked to a previous case involving 50 kg of drugs that had been seized in November.
This operation had been carried out under his authority in coordination with the Banteay Meanchey provincial authorities by pretending to be customers and ordering the drugs, which were then imported from Thailand via the O’Smach and Poipet corridors.
“When the order arrived, we seized the drugs and then continued searching for any other people involved and any additional drugs. These suspects always distribute their drugs in Poipet town and Phnom Penh,” he said.
Panharith said police had confiscated one pistol along with methamphetamines, ecstasy, ketamine and heroin. The exact weights for each substance hadn’t been determined yet, but he estimated that it was about seven or eight kg total.
Banteay Meanchey Provincial Police Chief Sithi Loh said that the raids were carried out at two target locations.
At the first location the authorities arrested two suspects who were staying in a rented room in Kbal Spean I village and confiscated two suitcases.
They then proceeded to search the second target location, arresting another suspect who lived in a rented room in Palilei I Village, Poipet town. They seized a metal case and a pistol.
After the operation, the suspects and contraband were handed over to the Anti-Drug Department to proceed with filing criminal charges for prosecution, he added.
