Two children were yesterday sent to a government rehabilitation centre after they were arrested in the capital’s Tuol Kork district on Sunday for allegedly dealing drugs.

Boeung Kak II Commune Police Chief Khat Khontith confirmed the children, aged 12 and 8, were apprehended with drugs that were tested and identified as methamphetamines.

“We arrested two children for delivering drugs on [August] 13,” he said. “We confiscated 59 packets of drugs and we sent them to the district police headquarters after we arrested them.”

Tuol Kork Deputy District Police Chief Sok Heng said the children were kept at the station overnight and were sent to a “social affairs centre” yesterday.

Meas Vyrith, of the National Authority for Combating Drugs, said it was clear the children had been used to traffic the drugs by adults in a bid to avoid jail time if caught.

The age of criminal responsibility is 14 under Cambodian law.

“The children just are tools for them and have been used to help to commit drug crimes,” Vyrith said. “Authorities must work hard to find the mastermind who uses children.”