Phnom Penh Municipal Police arrested a man and woman on Friday at the Chroy Changva bus station for smuggling 40,600 amphetamine pills from Stung Treng province, police officials said.
Phnom Penh Anti-Drug Police Chief Touch Muysor said Sunday that the drugs were brought into the country from Laos and that the man, Kuch Seth, 35, and the woman, Srey On, 35, were each promised about $250 to transport the load into the capital.
He said the two posed as peddlers of neam cakes, a fish-based treat popular along Cambodia’s northern stretch of the Mekong river, on the boat from Stung Treng to Kompong Cham town.
But stashed beneath the cakes, police discovered the amphetamine pills. Having divided the pills in Kompong Cham, the pair traveled in separate taxis to Phnom Penh, where police awaited their arrival and arrested them both, Touch Muysor said.
The anti-drug officer said that police had suspected Kuch Seth of running amphetamines from Stung Treng to Phnom Penh for some time. His arrest was the culmination of a three-month investigation.
He added that the two are suspected of having transported shipments of pills to Phnom Penh several times previously.
“Now both of them are in the custody of anti-drug police to answer questions about the mastermind police are looking for,” Touch Muysor said.
He said that Kuch Seth already told police that he had been instructed to await a phone call after arriving in Phnom Penh, where he would be given a location for the hand-off. But Touch Muysor said police do not yet suspect anyone of arranging the deal.
