Two young men were charged on Sunday with smuggling drugs into Kandal provincial prison, where they sold them to prisoners, according to police and a prison guard.

Dina Samedy, 17, and Math Sokry, 18, both from Kandal, were arrested on Friday inside the prison by guards while trying to distribute nine small packages of methamphetamine to prisoners, a guard unauthorised to speak to the press said yesterday.

According to the guard, Samedy and Sokry were attempting to deliver the drugs to two prisoners identified as Chea Mariya, 21, and Sroh Sorphoan, 22. Mariya was convicted for attempted murder and is serving an eight-year prison sentence while Sorphoan was sentenced to four years in prison for drug trafficking.

Both Samedy and Sokry were charged with drug trafficking and are now in Kandal provincial prison, according to Brigadier General Eav Chamreoun, chief of provincial police.