Anti-narcotics forces say they have confiscated more than 30,000 amphetamine pills in the last week as they crack down on drug smuggling throughout the country.
“We vow to crack down on the big drug dealers. That is our priority,” Meak Dara, anti-drug police chief of the Ministry of Interior, said Tuesday.
At least 16 suspected drug offenders, including a ranking military official in Stung Treng province, have been arrested in the last week, police say.
About 28,000 amphetamine pills believed to have been smuggled across the Cambodian-Laos border were seized and two women were arrested in Kratie province on Monday, Meak Dara said.
In a separate incident, Seing Sophea, military police chief of Stung Treng province’s Stung Treng district, was arrested Sunday in Phnom Penh after authorities allegedly confiscated 1,100 amphetamine pills from him and a partner, Meak Dara said.
Sein Bun Rith, military police chief of Stung Treng province, said Tuesday he had denied Seing Sophea permission to travel to Phnom Penh.
Last week police seized more than 2,000 pills and one firearm at a hotel in Veal Vong commune, Prampi Makara district.
Officials said the drugs had arrived from Laos and were destined to be sold to foreign tourists. A raid at another hotel in Daun Penh district yielded 120 amphetamine pills and a gun. One man was arrested.
Also, on Friday, police arrested four Thai citizens in the red-light area of Kamrieng district of Battambang province.
The men came to Cambodia to flee toughened law enforcement in Thailand, said Chea Thaun, deputy police chief of Battambang province. Ten amphetamine pills were confiscated, he said.
In another bust, in Battambang district, five men, all between 18 and 21 years old, and a 33-year-old woman were arrested and about 150 amphetamine pills seized on Monday, according to reports. Police said two guns were also confiscated.
