Police arrested seven suspects and seized more than 14 tonnes of chemicals used for the production of illegal drugs on June 29. POLICE
The National Police’s anti-drug officers in cooperation with the Preah Sihanouk provincial police are continuing their search for the mastermind behind a drug manufacturing ring after executing raids that resulted in arrests and seizures at two locations in the province.
Police arrested seven suspects and seized more than 14 tonnes of chemicals used for the production of illegal drugs on June 29, according to Lieutenant General Mak Chito, deputy National Police chief in charge of drug crimes.
Huot Vichet, deputy prosecutor and spokesman for the provincial court prosecutor's office, told The Post on July 5 that the seven suspects, all from Taiwan, were still being questioned.
Chito said the arrests and seizure followed a two-month investigation. Police are searching for the ringleader of the gang in collaboration with Chinese authorities and Interpol.
"We have caught many ringleaders in these cases. Most of them are technicians who come to supervise the production process. Thus, they are often from other countries. We are working with our counterparts in China and with Interpol to find the ringleader,” he said.
He said this was not the first time that anti-drug police have cracked down on the growing problem of drug manufacturing in Cambodia, noting that at the end of 2021 and the beginning of this year there were five cases that together resulted in the confiscation of about 300 tonnes of chemicals used to make illegal drugs.
According to the National Police's report, there were two manufacturing sites for drugs in the latest case – one in Commune III’s Khlaing Leur Village III of Sihanoukville and the other in Stung Chhay commune’s Stung Chhay Khang Tbong village of Preah Vihear province’s Kampong Seila district.
Aside from the seven suspects and the more than 14 tonnes of chemicals, the police also confiscated laboratory equipment, including 50 reaction pots, seven reaction glasses and three generators, 59 reaction tank supports and five reactors along with 298 tank shells and tanks, funnels and a motorised mixer.
