Ant-drug police in Kratie province yesterday arrested two inmates – one of them with just over two weeks left on his sentence – for possessing about 19 grams of methamphetamine inside the provincial prison.

Provincial anti-drug police officer Kong Sidan identified the suspects as Sieng Sophea, 31, whose sentence was set to end in 17 days, and Tae Lity, 28, who had six months left on his sentence.

Both were serving two-year terms for drug trafficking.

“We had received the information from our agents. We investigated and found out that they took in some small packets of drugs, but we waited until they brought more in, like this morning, so that they would serve a longer prison term,” Sidan said.

Prison chief Kwa Saran, however, denied that there was a broader trafficking problem in the prison, saying the drugs were only brought into the prison yesterday when the two prisoners returned from exercising in the yard.

“It is not trafficking within the prison, because in the prison we do body checks five times a day,” he said, adding that he believed the drugs had been thrown over the wall into the compound, which is surrounded by public streets.