A monk was sent to court yesterday after allegedly being caught with 140 grams of methamphetamine in Takeo province, police said.

Chea Pav, 19, is accused of storing a plastic bag containing the drugs under flowers at a pagoda in Takeo town for two other people, Sem Socheat, a police department chief in the province, said.

“The police prepared the case . . . and the court will take care of it from here,” he said, adding that Pav was arrested on April 25.

The two other suspects, Socheat said, remained at large and had twice contacted the monk requesting to borrow money before arranging to meet him outside the pagoda.

On one of these occasions, the pair – a man and a woman – asked the monk to store the bag on the pagoda grounds.

A prison official who knew the monk became suspicious and confronted him, Socheat added. When the drugs were found, he called the police.

Pav denied speaking with the two men on the phone, Socheat said, but police found 20 text messages between the monk and the suspects.