Officials found a range of expired goods in the capital that had been stored in seven shipping containers which were left unattended for nearly two years, according to the Consumer Protection Competition and Fraud Repression Directorate-General (CCF) on November 11.

The CCF said in a vague statement that these seven were among 43 containers loaded with merchandise that were left out from October 2018 to June 2020, and involved in an inspection by officials of the directorate-general’s branch in the capital.

The operation was conducted “with the facilitation” of the Phnom Penh Municipal Prosecutor's Office in cooperation with the capital’s customs and excise office, the directorate-general said.

The CCF did not mention what had happened to the shipping containers or the goods between June 2020 and November 2021.

An analysis determined that the goods from 34 of the containers were of usable quality, and that those of the remaining two steel boxes required further testing, it said.

While the CCF did not specify the types of products involved in the inspection, images taken by the directorate-general showed a row of mostly closed shipping containers. The few that were open appeared to contain bottled water, wooden blocks, knapsack power sprayers, and nondescript cylinders packed in cardboard.