A failed sting saw an armed drug dealer escape with $440 in cash handed to him by police in Phnom Penh on Tuesday, while undercover officers were left with 15 grams of crystal methamphetamine and the suspect’s Toyota Prius, officials said Wednesday.
The dealer arranged to meet the officers —two agents from the Interior Ministry’s anti-drug department posing as buyers—near the Mondial Center in Tuol Kok district on Tuesday afternoon, said Kim Leng, a bureau chief in the department.
Mr. Leng said his officers had agreed in advance to pay the dealer $440 for 15.32 grams of crystal meth, but spooked the dealer when one of them approached on a motorbike as the other was completing the transaction.
When the suspect leapt into his Prius and sped away, the officers gave chase on a motorbike, he said.
“We chased him from Tuol Kok district to Meanchey district, but the drug dealer had a handgun, so we were afraid that if he fired the gun he could injure other passengers on the streets,” Mr. Leng said, adding that the suspect finally crashed into a fence and fled on foot. He refused to name the dealer but said he would be caught soon.
