Police took back at least 13 addicts to the Keo Phos drug rehabilitation centre in Preah Sihanouk province by November 22 after more than 50 people broke out and fled from the centre on the night of November 20.

“For those who escaped from the centre, they did not make a mistake because they are victims of drugs too,” Stung Hav district police chief Ros Key said on November 22.

“The director of the centre said he sent the names of the remaining people to their guardians who will send them back to the centre sooner or later,” he added.

According to Key, drug addicted people are usually sent to the Kraing Thnong Rehabilitation Centre in Phnom Penh. The reason these people escaped was they were not used to living in a new location. They removed a window and then climbed over the fence.

An official at the Keo Phos Rehabilitation Centre, who asked to remain anonymous, said the centre is managed by the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation.

He said it was built to treat victims of drug abuse.

The Kraing Thnong Rehabilitation Centre delivered 103 male and female patients on November 20 to detox there.

The officer said they were broken into groups of five to 10 per room.