Amphetamine Bust Leads to Drug Lab Raid

Police arrested four men, including a foreigner and the son of a government official, in a crackdown on a suspected home drug-production laboratory in Phnom Penh Thursday, police said Sunday.

An Indian national, 45, was arrested in Daun Penh district’s Sras Chork commune, as he was reportedly waiting to pass a load of drugs to his dealer, said Iv Thearith, deputy police chief of the municipal anti-drug unit.

Police found him carrying 200 amphetamine pills and hauled him in for questioning, where he told police about a home laboratory on the second floor of a rented house in Tuol Kok district.

Police raided the home on Friday, arresting Ouk Virak Both, son of the Forestry Adminis­tration’s deputy director Ouk Sokhon, and two others, Tep Phirun, 21, and Tep Sokha Phoeukdei, 18, the deputy police chief said.

Police also seized 14 kinds of chemicals that can be used to produce am­phet­amines and the drug ecstasy, Iv Thearith said, but he did not disclose the types, amount or value of the chemicals found.

Police suspect Ouk Virak Both, 30, headed the operation, Iv Thearith said. He added that Ouk Virak Both was arrested and subsequently released without charge in May 2000, after police found 200 kg of marijuana in his house.

Ouk Sokhon could not be reached for comment Sunday.

All four men are in police custody in Daun Penh district and are scheduled to appear in court today, said Huy Song, the district’s penal police chief.

 

 

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