Siem Reap provincial anti-drug police arrested a Romanian national allegedly carrying 3.5 kilograms of methamphetamines at the Siem Reap International Airport on Wednesday evening, police said.

Colonel Um Mara, deputy chief of Siem Reap provincial police, said Romanian national Serban Rares Cadri, 38, was arrested and detained for questioning on suspicion of international drug trafficking at about 6pm on Wednesday after police uncovered the 3.5 kilos of meth secreted away in his luggage.

“He travelled from Brazil, and [transferred] from Singapore’s airport into Cambodia via Siem Reap International Airport. He was arrested after … police checked his luggage and found drugs hidden inside,” Mara said.

“We are now still working on this, and searching for those who were related or were behind this drug trafficking.”

Major Sao Vanna, a police officer with the Siem Reap provincial police, told the Post yesterday that Cadri was preliminarily accused with “keeping, transporting and trafficking drugs” under Article 40 of Cambodia’s Anti-Drug Law.

Vanna also said Cadri was to be sent to court for official charges yesterday but declined to comment in further detail.

According to the Anti-Drug Law, if found guilty, he could face life in prison.

Wednesday’s bust brings the total amount of methamphetamines seized in Cambodia’s airports to more than eight kilos in the past two months alone.

In early July, an Indian woman was arrested flying through Siem Reap from India with the intent of travelling on to Singapore with 3.38 kilograms of methamphetamine hidden in her luggage.

Earlier this month, a Nigerian woman was charged with international drug trafficking after being arrested at Phnom Penh airport with 1.5 kilos of methamphetamines.

In June, four Thai women were sentenced to life after being arrested last August with eight kilos of cocaine trafficked from Ecuador and Ghana.