Two Siem Reap province restaurateurs and two accomplices were convicted and sentenced at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday on charges of drug trafficking and drug use.

Presiding Judge Kor Vandy sentenced restaurateurs Chheang Chumnol, 44, and his Thai wife, Bou Avtheng, also known as Licy, to 30 years in prison and a 60 million riel ($15,000) fine, and 20 years in prison and a 40 million riel ($10,000) fine, respectively, for trafficking drugs between Laos and Cambodia.

Their accomplices were each sentenced to 20 years in prison and fined 40 million riel. 

All four maintained their innocence, with Chumnol and his accomplices saying they had either been beaten into thumb­printing confessions, or thumbprinted confessions they had not read.

To contact the reporter on this story: Lieng Sarith at [email protected]