Police arrested a Peruvian national yesterday for allegedly carrying cocaine into Cambodia through Phnom Penh International Airport, and two Thai women were sent to court yesterday on similar charges, police said.

Lieutenant General Kirt Chantharith, spokesman for the National Police, said a Peruvian man had been detained yesterday evening at the airport by police, who confiscated a metal tube stuffed with cocaine thought to have been smuggled into the country from Brazil, via Singapore. While the amount of cocaine had not been determined at press time, the combined weight of the tube and contents was 11.5 kilograms.

“Our police are working on this right now, and I won’t have detailed information until tomorrow,” he said.

Airport director Chhay Bora also confirmed the bust but said that he, too, had received few details as of press time.  

In a similar case, two Thai women were also arrested – one at the airport and the other at a hotel in Phnom Penh – for their alleged involvement in smuggling cocaine into Cambodia, Chantharith said.

“We have already sent them to court on Tuesday afternoon,” he said.

Phnom Penh court officials could not be reached for comment yesterday evening, but according to local news outlet CEN, the two women were accused of bringing seven grams of cocaine into the Kingdom, also from Singapore.

The two suspects, identified by CEN as Thanyanat Sama-Arphat, 31, and Wongtrakool Sangdao, 39, were reportedly waiting to take the cocaine on to Thailand, and have been officially charged and sent to pre-trial detention at Prey Sar prison.