An American bar owner and his Swedish waiter will face the Kampot Provincial Court today after police raided the business and found nearly half a kilogram of marijuana that is believed to have been sold over the counter, a police official said.
Yanale Demyanov, 36, and Blakej Bujar, 26, were arrested along with five customers on Tuesday evening following a six-week investigation into the Fat Cat bar in Kampot City’s Kompong Kandal commune, said Mao Chanmathurith, the provincial police chief.
“Our police confiscated 494.6 grams of dried marijuana and also some marijuana oil,” Brigadier General Chanmathurith said.
“We spent 1 1/2 months investigating the Fat Cat bar before we raided it and confiscated the dry marijuana and the oil.”
The five customers were released later on Tuesday evening after police concluded that they were not involved in selling the drugs, according to Ith Thea, deputy chief of the Kampot provincial police’s anti-drug department.
Mr. Demyanov opened Fat Cat bar in mid-2014, according to his Facebook page, which lists his given name simply as Yan.
In July 2010, a Yan Demyanov, then 31, was arrested in Brookline, Massachusetts, along with two friends in possession of heroin. Mr. Demyanov was subsequently charged with conspiracy to violate the controlled substance act and being present where heroin is kept, according to the news website Wickedlocal.com.
In another news article posted by Wickedlocal.com in June 2010, police arrested a Yan Demyanov, then 31, in Brighton, Massachusetts, after they found him and another man asleep in a Toyota Prius that had stopped in the middle of a road in mid-afternoon.
In the car, police found marijuana and prescription drugs, including Suboxone, which is used to treat opiate addiction. In Mr. Demyanov’s backpack they found a substance believed to be heroin.
He was charged with possession of a Class A substance, according to the report.
