More than a kilogram of cocaine was seized at the Siem Reap airport on Monday evening as the result of intelligence sharing between police forces on multiple continents, provincial police said yesterday.
Venezuelan national Nabelis Del Carmen Garcia Guillen, 23, was arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking by provincial anti-drug, customs and military police, according to provincial deputy chief of anti-drug trafficking police Oum Amra, who coordinated the arrest.
“We collaborated with other countries who fed us information. We were suspicious because Cambodia was not her final destination. She was heading to Hong Kong, she was going to sell the cocaine there,” Amra said. “We got an order from [national anti-drug police chief] Mok Chito.”
While he could not name the countries that provided the intelligence, he did say that Guillen had passed through Brazil, Dubai and Thailand with the drugs before landing in Siem Reap. Amra said Guillen’s suitcase had been altered to conceal a hidden compartment, where the 1.39 kilograms of cocaine were stashed.
He added that this was Siem Reap province’s first cocaine bust of the year. However, more than 9 kilos of cocaine have been confiscated at Phnom Penh International Airport since April.
Among those arrested was another Venezuelan woman, who was detained last month having flown from Brazil via Ethiopa and Thailand. Police did not believe Cambodia was her final destination either.
