Four suspects were arrested with a large haul of crystal methamphetamine in Kampong Thom's Kampong Svay district on Monday. Police
After questioning four suspects arrested with a large haul of crystal methamphetamine on Monday, Kampong Thom provincial police have seized a further 60kg of the drug at a house in Kampong Svay district.
On Monday afternoon, the provincial police worked with officers from the National Authority for Combating Drugs (NACD) to arrest four suspects, including a 32-year-old Thai national, and seize 40kg of crystal methamphetamine, known as ice.
The other three suspects were Cambodians aged 42 and 53 from Banteay Meanchey province, and a 40-year-old resident of Battambang province.
Va Chankosal, the Kampong Thom provincial deputy police chief in charge of drug enforcement, told The Post on Thursday that police officers took the suspects to a house in Sankoa commune’s Sankoa village on Wednesday to show them where the drugs were hidden.
Chankosal said that during questioning by Kampong Svay district police, it was established that one of the suspects was related to the owner of the house, which had been left vacant for months because he had moved to work at a Phnom Penh factory.
“After unlocking the door, police searched the house and found three large red, black and blue suitcases under a bed.
“Inside the luggage, they found 53 1kg packages of drugs wrapped in tea packaging with five stars on the outside in an attempt to disguise the contents,” he said.
Deputy National Police chief Mok Chito, who is also deputy secretary-general of the NACD, said that the following morning, specialist police who were continuing to search the site discovered seven more 1kg packages of drugs under empty soft100kg of drugs had now been seized in this case and the authorities were cooperating with their Thai counterparts to locate and bring to justice the ringleaders and prevent more drugs coming over the border.
“After receiving further information from the four suspects during questioning, our police officers have brought the total amount of drugs seized to 100kg.
“Now, we are strengthening our cooperation with the Thai authorities to launch a cross-border investigation and arrest the ringleaders, because this is a new drug cartel that we haven’t come across before,” he said.
The police had not yet decided on Thursday to send the suspects and the evidence to the Kampong Thom Provincial Court even though it was more than 72 hours since they were arrested.
“Generally, the provincial police have the right to decide on legal procedures in drug crackdowns. However, the specialist police team consider it such a major case that the suspects and the evidence should be sent to Phnom Penh.
“But NACD officials are still discussing whether Kampong Thom provincial authorities or those in the capital should instigate legal proceedings,” Chito said.
