Interior Minister Sar Kheng announced yesterday that $1 million raised through the sale of assets confiscated from convicted drug traffickers and users during the government’s anti-drug crackdown would be set aside to reward officers involved in future busts.

Speaking at a conference on the crackdown at the National Authority for Combating Drugs (NCAD) in the ministry, Kheng said the rewards would encourage officials.

“The money is about $1 million and comes from the anti-drug authority and the Ministry of Interior. The money is raised from the seizure of suspects’ property . . . So we will return the money to the people who have put in efforts to combating drugs,” Kheng said.

NACD Secretary-General Meas Vyrith said a committee would be formed to mete out the rewards. “We create the committee to judge the accomplishments in order to avoid conflict; some people get more and some get less,” he said.

However, San Chey, head of the Affiliated Network for Social Accountability, said the system could be subject to abuse.

“Awards must be compensated from clean money from the national budget. Using the convicted drug [traffickers] to generate money for award may cause conflict of interest and may lead to possible abuse of power of the armed forces if the action was not well monitored,” Chey said in an email.