Cops put the kibosh on a district-wide drug trafficking operation in a two-part crackdown on Saturday.

Kandal province police first followed five suspects to the capital and arrested them on orders from the provincial court for their well-known illicit business throughout Kandal’s Ang Snuol district.

Back on home turf, another four were arrested after they were spotted by villagers making sales. All nine were rounded up and admitted they had pooled $50 for each new shipment bound for the district.

Cell phones, paraphernalia and two bags of a suspected illicit substance were confiscated before charges were handed out.

Koh Santepheap