MILITARY police say they are looking for a 41-year-old police official at the Interior Ministry whom they accuse of running a drug smuggling operation that was broken up last month when 400 grams of methamphetamine was found during a raid near the Old Market.

The April 19 raid led to the arrest of three men, who identified the police official as their ringleader, said Men Ra, head of the Anti-Drug Research Bureau of the Military Police. A raid on Friday of a mobile-phone shop in Daun Penh district owned by the official yielded one pill of methamphetamine, he added.

“We are terribly sorry that the suspect has remained at large during the crackdown, and we are now [hoping to] arrest him. We are told by sources that he has fled to Vietnam along with his wife,” Men Ra said.

The three arrested men have been charged with cross-border drug smuggling, Men Ra said.