DRUG RUN

A TAIWANESE national has been charged at Phnom Penh Municipal Court with smuggling drugs and using an illegal weapon. Lo Ching Hang, 22, was arrested Friday at Phnom Penh International Airport with 809 grams of heroin, said prosecutor Ek Chheng Huot. He added that a military police officer was also charged with supplying an illegal weapon to the man. Customs official Theam Chan Sotha said authorities had found the drugs in the man's pocket when he was going through security to catch his flight to Taiwan. Moeuk Dara, director of the anti-drug trafficking department, said his office suspected "ring leaders" in Phnom Penh were behind the attempted smuggling. Lo Ching Hang faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted, said Cambodia Defenders Project director Sok Sam Oeun.