serei saophoan district, Banteay Meanchey province – Before this year, few significant drug busts had taken place in this border province, which anti-drug officials say is fast becoming a major drug trafficking route from Thailand, according to provincial Police Chief Sok Sareth.
But 10 months into his new job, and with an average of one significant drug bust a month, Sok Sareth said the flow of amphetamines into Cambodia is now at least being slowed.
He attributes the change to the province’s new drug operation, which uses undercover police agents to infiltrate drug trafficking gangs.
More than 22,000 methamphetamine pills have been seized and 2,000 cannabis plants destroyed in anti-drug operations in the province this year.
But with a 189 km-border to control in eight districts, completely stopping the flow of amphetamines smuggled from Thailand and Burma is almost impossible.
The job is also a dangerous one, Sok Sareth said, noting that drug trafficking gangs are not afraid to use guns to protect their investment. “They have guns on hand,” Sok Sareth said. “They are not afraid of anything when they have taken yama [amphetamines].”
Chuop Sothea, chief of Banteay Meanchey’s counter-drug office, said more arrests are taking place. However the drug problem in the province continues to worsen, especially in the border-crossing town of Poipet, where addiction to amphetamines among street children, prostitutes and laborers is reaching rampant levels
“Amphetamines are very cheap,” Chuop Sothea said. “Even the laborer can buy for [less than $1].”
Former Khmer Rouge zones are also showing signs of serious methamphetamine infiltration, Chuop Sothea said, noting that the areas are extremely isolated and difficult to control.
“We have no [drug] experts in those areas and we do not have enough assistance [money] from Phnom Penh,” he said.
