At the behest of National Police Director General Hok Lundy, Phnom Penh Governor Kep Chuktema said Tuesday he will renew a crackdown on nightclubs and karaoke parlors in hopes of curbing the city’s drug trade.
At a City Hall meeting on election campaign security, Hok Lundy digressed to lament the rising popularity and availability of methamphetamine tablets among Phnom Penh’s youth.
“When [youths] enter the nightclubs looking for fun, they use drugs to feel happy and dance,” he said.
“The youths will ruin their minds and then commit robberies. If we can cut back on drug use, then we can cut back on crime,” Hok Lundy said.
He warned that drug users lose control when on methamphetamines and sometimes hurt those who try to interfere with their highs. “In your position as governor, [Kep Chuktema] can shut down those places” where drugs are available, he said.
Once it is determined which nightclubs and karaoke bars are most rife with illicit drugs, police should move to close those businesses, Hok Lundy said. “When we close one or two nightclubs for drug trafficking, other nightclubs will try to curb drugs in their places,” he added.
He urged Kep Chuktema to build a rehabilitation center where young users could get clean and avoid jail. “In the past, when authorities arrested drug users, they didn’t know how or where to treat them. So a few days later those users were released,” he said.
Kep Chuktema said that commune police already are patrolling the late night spot in Daun Penh and Chamkar Mon districts, and that he supports Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ban on karaoke parlors.
(Additional reporting by Phann Ana)
