An 8-year-old boy was arrested on Tuesday in Phnom Penh’s Tuol Kork district for allegedly dealing crystal methamphetamine, according to local police.

Beoung Kak II Commune Police Chief Khat Khontith said he and district police made the arrest when they found the boy near the railway line allegedly dealing an illicit substance they believe to be meth.

“He was standing there alone. We asked him who was behind it, but he did not say anything. Then I sent him on to district police,” Khontith said.

He said the boy was carrying 35 small packets of a white substance.

Long Sao, the Tuol Kork district police official in charge of drug crimes, said the boy refused to name who had arranged for him to deal drugs.

“We asked him and he did not talk much, he just kept crying. So, we sent him to court and the court sent him to a rehabilitation centre,” Sao said.

It remained unclear yesterday which rehabilitation centre the boy had been sent to, although Phnom Penh municipality spokesman Met Measpheakdey said no underage children were currently at the notorious “My Chance” rehabilitation centre.

Police have made a string of arrests of underage children dealing drugs near the railway line in Tuol Kork, but yesterday they said most were not local to the area.