Five men are awaiting sentencing after the Phnom Penh Municipal Court tried them for drug trafficking yesterday, following an arrest last year that turned up more than half a kilogram of narcotics.

Judge Kim Dany yesterday presided over the case of So Meng Hav of Cambodia, John Philip Conteh of Sierra Leone, Leonard Amazodo of South Africa, and Jude Obi Oyebuchukwu and Paul Ani Nnbabuike, both of Nigeria.

Police arrested Meng Hav and Conteh near the Chroy Changvar Bridge after seizing 270 grams of cocaine, 32 grams of marijuana and 300 grams of methamphetamine from them in five separate packages the men had allegedly intended to sell to an undercover officer, Dany said.

“They were charged by the court with drug possession, transportation and trafficking,” he said.

The two told police they had been given the drugs by Amazodo, Oyebuchukwu and Nnbabuike, he said.

Police found no drugs on those three men, but arrested them nevertheless. Pheng Heng, the lawyer for the three, yesterday asked the court to release them due to the lack of evidence against them.

Meng Hav and Conteh, for their part, said the drugs the police found on them were for their own use, with Meng Hav claiming he used them to treat chronic tuberculosis.

Verdicts are scheduled to be handed down on August 5.