A suspected Laos drug dealer was arrested on Saturday afternoon by anti-drug police forces and was placed under pre-trial detention by the Stung Treng Provincial Court on charges of “illegally trading in addictive substances”, according to Mao Dara, Stung Treng provincial police chief.

Dara said yesterday that the Laos suspect, identified as Chakly Chuetaly, 22, lived in the Lao capital of Vientiane, and was arrested with 5 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine in Stung Treng town’s Samaki commune, near the Dong Kralor International Border Checkpoint, by officers with the Anti-Drug Department of the Ministry of Interior.

“Now the suspect is being detained at Stung Treng Provincial Prison based on the court’s order charging him with trading in addictive substances illegally,” he confirmed.

He continued that experts are still investigating the case and searching for any potential accomplices of the suspect hiding along the border.

Laos has emerged as a major source of drugs destined for Cambodia, and earlier this month, Stung Treng Provincial Military Police forces arrested a Laos man and seized 1 kilogram of methamphetamine.

Despite the Kingdom’s anti-drug crackdown – which has seen thousands of arrests since the beginning of the year, and which officials say they will extend through the end of the year – the UN Office on Drugs and Crime has said the flow of drugs into Cambodia does not appear to have been dramatically curbed, thanks in part to poor communication between neighbouring countries.