A senior official from the National Authority for Combating Drugs (NACD) on Monday called on would-be soldiers and military personnel to act as the focal persons for their communities to prevent an increase in narcotics abuse.

Speaking in front of some 1,200 people – including students and soldiers – at the Tmat Porng Military School, NACD spokesperson Meas Vyrith said the responsibility to combat illegal drug abuse in society “does not belong to just one body or organisation”.

“We must regard drug abuse as a common problem for all of us. Therefore, everyone must take part in efforts to combat the spread of drug use as it can affect the happiness of our society,” Vyrith said at the event, which was intended to raise awareness of laws on drugs control.

In a related development, the Ministry of Interior Anti-Drug Department recently raided a clandestine laboratory used to manufacture narcotics in the capital’s Sen Sok district.

More than 200kg of pyrovalerone and 587kg of other substances, as well as a set of equipment for making drugs, were discovered during the crackdown operation.

The house was reportedly leased to a Taiwanese national and owned by Uy Rasy, the deputy chief of Phnom Penh’s general department of customs and excise.

Meanwhile, in Kampong Speu, the provincial court charged six suspects over their alleged involvement in a drug-trafficking case after they were detained by the Samrong Tong district anti-drug police on Sunday morning in Samrong Tong commune’s Trapaing Tros village.

The court also ordered the suspects to be detained at the provincial prison.

District police chief Khuth Sophal told The Post on Monday that the suspects were identified as Un Phally, 33, the ring leader; An Pisei, 24; Khieu Che, 22; Tep Kosal, 28; Yan Da, 19; and Chorn Socheat, 30.

“During the crackdown, the police confiscated 11 large and small packets of methamphetamine, one drug scale and other equipment,” he said.