A Taiwanese national who claims he was just a drug mule yesterday appealed his 22-year prison sentence for attempting to smuggle half a kilogram of heroin from Cambodia to China.

Liv Loo Minh, 41, who has been inprisoned for four years, maintained that the heroin found in his luggage at Phnom Penh International Airport “belonged to another two Taiwanese men who had asked for help bringing the luggage to the airport”.

The alleged accomplices, known only as “Chhin” and “Lao”, disappeared after Liv Loo Minh was arrested in 2008.

The verdict will be handed down on September 20.

To contact the reporter on this story: Buth Reaksmey Kongkea at [email protected]