Cop Among Three Men Caught With Half Kilogram of ‘Ice’

Three men, including a police of­f­icer, suspected of dealing drugs on Street 200 in Daun Penh district’s Boeng Raing commune, were arrested Sunday ev­ening with half a kilogram of methamphetamines, said Van Kosal, deputy director of the Interior Ministry’s anti-drug police department.

Lot Sereyboth, 35, a Daun Penh district police officer; Thai Sith, 39, an Australian citizen; and Sim Bunsan, 38, were sent to the municipal court yesterday for questioning, said Mr Kosal. He added that two cars—a Toyota Camry and a Toyota Tundra pick-up—were confiscated along with the 498 grams of methamphetamine, commonly referred to as ice.

“We have spent around one week to crack down on these drug dealers by our anti-drug police officers,” Mr Kosal said. “It is the first time this month…that our anti-drug police cracked down and confiscate half a kilogram of ice.”

The suspects have not yet been charged and will be sent back to court today for more questioning, he added.

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime said in a report released in December that methamphetamine use and production is rising in Cambodia and in the region. At the time authorities denied that production was increasing, while health experts confirmed meth­am­phetamines were becoming easier to obtain.

Separately, anti-drug police along with the Interior Ministry have plans to destroy 20 tons of M’reas Prov oil and other chemicals in Batt­ambang province on Jan 28, according to Dr Meas Vyrith, laboratory director at the National Authority for Combating Drugs.

The oil, which can be used as a precursor chemical in the production of the drug ecstasy, but is also used for a myriad of other legal purposes, and the chemicals were confiscated in 2009 in Kom­pong Chhnang, Pursat and Battambang provinces, Mr Vyrith said.

 

 

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