A 30- YEAR-OLD Sierra Leone national was tried in absentia yesterday by Phnom Penh Municipal Court on charges of sending more than 200 grams of heroin through the Cambodian postal system.

Duch Kimsorn, presiding judge at the court, said that Kapo Alfred, a Sierra Leone tourist, was charged by the court on March 15 for international drug trafficking.

The alleged drug-trafficker sent 226 grams of heroin in five separate envelopes to three separate addresses in Australia through a Phnom Penh post office, Duch Kimsorn said.

“He put the drugs inside five envelopes and mailed it to Australia. This is against the law,” Duch Kimsorn said.

Chap Socheat, the Daun Penh Post Office’s chief of administration, said that on March 10 his staff reported suspicious pieces of mail. Upon inspection, Chap Socheat discovered that the five envelopes contained heroin.

One of the envelopes listed Kapo Alfred’s nickname, Chris Alfred, as the sender, which was how authorities caught him, he said. However, he later escaped from custody.

Deputy prosector Meas Chanpiseth alleged in court yesterday that the police investigation had proven that Kapo Alfred was the sole sender of the envelopes.

“There is enough evidence to prove that Kapo Alfred sent the drug envelopes. Therefore, I would like to ask the court to sentence him according to Cambodia’s laws,” he said.

Bun Kong, Kapo Alfred’s defence lawyer, denied the charges against his client yesterday in court, claiming that there was no proof that his client was guilty.