The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday charged Thai national Chaipong Phisaiphan with illegal drug possession and illegal drug transportation for smuggling 20 kg of methamphetamine and heroin from Laos to Phnom Penh.
Deputy prosecutor Oum Sopheak said that he had booked Mr. Chaipong under Article 40 of the criminal code.
“After I charged him, I sent him to the investigating judge for questioning,” Mr. Sopheak said on Friday.
Court spokesman Yi Rin confirmed the charges and said that Mr. Chaipong had been placed in provisional detention in PJ Prison.
The 52-year-old was arrested on Monday in Sen Sok district’s Trapaing Chhouk village, a ramshackle area with a longstanding reputation as a hub in the capital’s drug trade.
Officers from the National Police and the Interior Ministry’s anti-drug department said they found 3 kg of methamphetamine on Mr. Chaipong at the time of his arrest and another 17 kg of drugs stashed at his house.
Authorities said the suspect had admitted to bringing the drugs from Champasak province in Laos.
