The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the Appeal Court’s 15-year prison sentence on a man for supplying addictive substances after he was found in possession of almost 4kg of methamphetamine in the capital’s Stung Meanchey commune in 2015.

At the courtroom on Wednesday, Judge Kim Sathavy handed down the verdict to 54-year-old Taing Ly.

“After hearing the case on July 17, and listening to the conclusions presented by the defence lawyer representing the accused, and the prosecutor, the chamber finds that the police raided a house and found the drugs as described.

“So, the Supreme Court rules to uphold the verdict of the Appeal Court and orders that the convict should continue to be detained,” she said.

Dissatisfied with the initial verdict, Ly had lodged a complaint to the Appeal Court asking it to lower his sentence, but the Appeal Court upheld the decision.

Ly then took his case to the Supreme Court.

The police record said the Ministry of Interior’s Anti-Drug Bureau police collaborated with local police on June 30, 2015, to raid a house in Meanchey district’s Stung Meanchey commune, where they found nearly 4kg of drugs and detained Taing Ly.

“The police also raided two other locations in the same commune, detaining two more people – Prum Sovan, 35, and Se Ya, 45, a Cambodian-Muslim,” the report said.

The operation was conducted with the assistance of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court prosecutor.

During the raid, the police also confiscated a set of scales, a packet of addictive white powder, a packet of brown powder suspected to be an addictive substance and some drug-producing equipment.

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court upheld the lower courts’ decision to convict Ly of illegally dealing in addictive substances, according to the Law on the Control of Drugs.

As well as handing down the 15-year prison sentence to Ly, the court also ordered him to pay a fine of 16 million riel ($4,000).

The other two men were each sentenced to five years imprisonment.