Anti-drug police in Phnom Penh on Thursday arrested a U.S. national wanted in the U.S. for drug trafficking and suspected of entering Cambodia illegally, according to police.
Christopher James Petersen, 38, was arrested around midday at a rental house on Street 108 in Daun Penh district after a two-month search assisted by the U.S. Embassy and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), said In Song, deputy chief of the Interior Ministry’s anti-drug police.
“We arrested him with an American court warrant after we searched for him for about two months since we heard he came to our country,” Mr. Song said. “Now he is at the anti-drug police station and tomorrow we will send him to court to be charged with illegally crossing the border, because his passport was canceled by the American court.”
He said Mr. Petersen would be extradited after he was charged and handed over to he U.S. Embassy.
“Mr. James has not committed any [drug-related] crime here in Cambodia, but he was involved in drug trafficking in the States and escaped to stay in Phnom Penh,” he added.
According to photos provided by the police, authorities also confiscated three mobile phones, two laptop computers and a digital camera from the suspect’s rental home.
The U.S. Embassy declined to comment and referred all questions to Cambodian authorities.
“I direct you to the Cambodian authorities for further information on arrests they have made,” said Sean McIntosh, a spokesman for the embassy.
According to a statement on the DEA’s website, Mr. Petersen was among 15 people charged by the Colorado State Attorney General’s Office in December for “fraudulently acquiring, diverting and distributing large amounts of oxycodone,” a highly addictive prescription drug.
The drug ring had been colluding with a local pharmacist to illegally divert the drugs since 2010, according to the statement.
Though the group had expanded its operation into other states, the DEA statement makes no reference of any attempt to expand outside of the U.S.
(Additional reporting by Zsombor Peter)
