Five men were charged with drug trafficking by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday after they were caught by a police sting operation allegedly trying to sell 1 kilogram of methamphetamines to undercover officers.

The large quantity of narcotics was discovered by police during the operation in April last year.

Im Vannak, presiding judge at the court, said that Sok Uy, 40; Chea Meth, 39; Kong Vireak, 52; Keo Paly, 41; and Mey Sokha, 51, were accused of selling the drugs to undercover anti-drugs police.

“They allegedly sold drugs to undercover police who pretended to be drug dealers,” he said.

Colonel Tep Phiro, a deputy anti-drugs officer at the Ministry of Interior, said his officers had met the six men at a petrol station in the capital before following them and making the arrests at their residence in Boeung Sralang commune, Tuol Kork district, on April 18.

The men denied the trafficking charges, claiming to be only small-time dealers working on commission for a “Mr Veng”, who they said had escaped.

“I was not a drug dealer or the owner of drugs that were seized by police,” said Uy.

Their verdicts are due to be handed down on February 6.