AUTHORITIES have shut down three Phnom Penh guesthouses after finding more than 100 people had rented rooms there to consume drugs, police said Thursday.

Tieng Chansa, the deputy chief of the Minor Crimes Office with the Phnom Penh police, said officers executed a court warrant Wednesday on three Russey Keo guesthouses.

“We searched for criminal suspects who always hide themselves,” he said.

Officers found 103 people they have labelled “gangsters” at three guesthouses: Mohaleap, Sary Thom and Rik Reay. The people, all aged between 14 and 30, were sent to the municipal police office for “re-education”. Half have since been sent home, police said.

The three guesthouses have been ordered close for the time being as the investigation continues, Tieng Chansa said.

A receptionist at Sary Thom guesthouse, who declined to give her name said when contacted Thursday, “They are clients. We have to welcome them, but we do not know what they do inside the room.”