The anti-drugs department said on Tuesday that two of five suspects were arrested after they shot at police during a crackdown on drugs in Boeung Kak II commune, Tuol Kork district, in the capital on Monday night.

The Ministry of Interior’s Anti-Drug Department director Loek Vannak said the two arrested were a driver, 27, and a student aged 18. They are from Village 7, Boeung Kak II commune, Tuol Kork.

“The suspects are targets of drug crimes. We tracked them for many months before they were arrested. Expert police are questioning them now before they are sent to court,” Vannak said.

He said during the crackdown, anti-drug police tracked them to the vicinity of Preah Kossamak Hospital and about five of them were selling drugs there.

When they realised police had seen them, they fled on motorbikes on street 598 to Phsar Morn Aing. Two of them rode a motorbike to their house on street 315 in village 7, while one shot several times at police from a distance, but nobody was injured.

After the gunshots, anti-drugs police asked for assistance from local police to surround the house and arrested the suspects. An SIG Sauer P320 pistol with six bullets, some drugs and a motorbike were seized. Police also found four shell casings at the scene and are searching for their accomplices.

The National Police said on Monday alone, 20 drugs cases were cracked nationwide, 48 suspects were caught and a total of 65.23g of various narcotics seized. Of those caught, 17 had previous convictions for drug offences, but after they were released, they committed the crime again. The 31 others are drug users.