Two men and a woman were sent to Phnom Penh Municipal Court for drugs offences on Wednesday following their arrests in a sting operation by the Ministry of Interior’s Anti-drugs Department police.

Van Kosal, the deputy director of the Anti-drugs Department, told The Post on Wednesday that the three suspects were aged 26, 31 and 38. They were arrested on Monday in the capital’s Chamkarmon district.

“The anti-drugs police completed its procedures on Wednesday by sending the suspects to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court,” Kosal said.

Kosal said officials posed as drug users in Chamkarmon district’s Nirouth commune and approached a woman to procure a large number of methamphetamine pills, commonly known as yama or WY pills.

She said she was only able to find 66 pills at that time. When asked if she could get 1,000 pills, she said she could the next day. The pick-up was arranged for Monday and the dealer was arrested when the drugs were handed over.

The woman revealed the identities of her accomplices under questioning and the two men were arrested later that day in Chamkarmon district’s Tumnop Teuk and Olympic communes.

During the subsequent investigation, police found around 178g of yama and MDMA (also known as ecstasy) pills, and nearly 2kg (934g) of a powder used in the manufacture of methamphetamine and MDMA.

“The powder is used in the manufacture of methamphetamine and ecstasy. There have been many cases of the manufacturing of such drugs in Phnom Penh,” Kosal said.