A crackdown on the use and distribution of crystal methamphetamine in a notorious slum in Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district continued Monday and Tuesday with the arrest of 13 people, following numerous raids on the area in recent weeks, police said.
Khieu Samon, director of the Interior Ministry’s anti-drug police department, said his officers entered Trapaing Chhuok village’s maze of narrow wooden walkways on Monday afternoon and nabbed 10 people holed up in crude huts, variously smoking, carrying or stashing the highly addictive street drug, commonly known as “ice.”
“Some of them were sleeping, some were smoking and we caught dealers in a hut that had crystal meth stored inside,” Mr. Samon said.
Six of the suspects, all users in their 20s, were released after being “educated,” he said, while four men believed to be dealers were detained for further questioning.
District police made three more arrests in the village the following afternoon, said district police chief Mok Hong.
“We found the group preparing to smoke ice, but could not arrest all of them, so we detained the three dealers,” he said.
