Continuing the sweep of methamphetamine peddlers in the northwest, police in Battambang province arrested an RCAF soldier with more than 700 pills Sunday, while 2,000 pills were discovered in neighboring Banteay Meanchey province Saturday night.
Battambang provincial police arrested soldier Keo Chhut, 44, as he was trying to sell methamphetamine pills—known as “yama”—in Kamrieng district, said Chea Thaun, provincial deputy Judicial Police chief.
Chea Thaun said Keo Chhut had begun dealing yama just one month ago, after being introduced into the business by dealers in Banteay Meanchey’s Malai district—a former Khmer Rouge stronghold.
Battambang locals are being drawn to pill-popping because the drugs give them energy to work in the province’s maize plantations, the deputy police chief said.
Undercover Military Police officers in Banteay Meanchey tried to arrest a man selling 2,000 yama pills in Sisophon town Saturday night. While the illicit drugs were recovered, the suspect escaped, said Roth Sreang, provincial Military Police commander. Sold for close to $1 each, the pills were destined for markets near the Thai border, Roth Sreang said.
Earlier this month police in Banteay Meanchey raided the home of a former border police officer whom they accused of being one of the northwest’s biggest drug traffickers. More than 5,900 methamphetamine pills were seized in the home of Khieu Sitha, who blamed his wife and children.
Banteay Meanchey Deputy Judicial Police Chief Chhoeung Sokhom said police found records in the house indicating the suspect and his brother, Khieu Prey Chea, had cleared 38,000 pills in August alone. In August, Banteay Meanchey police discovered more than 61,000 methamphetamine pills near the border town of Poipet—the largest single pill bust ever in Cambodia.
Methamphetamine abuse has rocketed in Cambodia in recent years, leading anti-narcotics experts to fear the country faces a methamphetamine problem larger than the epidemic that swept Thailand in the 1990s.
