Police in Kampong Cham province said they had busted a drug ring yesterday and 10 suspects – eight men and two women – would be sent to court today to face charges of using and distributing narcotics.

Five more men who are allegedly part of a ring that uses and sells crystal methamphetamine were being sought, Kampong Cham provincial police chief Chhay Kim Son said yesterday.

The arrests had begun on Monday afternoon and continued overnight, he said.

Five men and two women were arrested about 3:30pm on Monday in a rented room in the provincial capital’s Veal Vong commune, Chhay Kim Son said.

About 1:00am, three other men were arrested at two separate locations: one in Boeung Kok commune and two in Veal Vong commune, he said.

Som Ruos, chief of the province’s drug-suppression police, said one of the suspects had  previously been imprisoned for two years on a drug trafficking charge, and another had been warned by police to stop using drugs.

“Previously, drug users were not arrested, but if they do not stop we will catch them and send them to court,” he said.

Som Ruos said the number of drug cases in Kampong Cham town were declining, but said he could not recall the number of cases last year. So far this year there had been 68 cases, he said.

He said drug offences had fallen because law-enforcement officers better understood the impact of drugs and people were more afraid of getting arrested.