Anti-drug police on Saturday arrested 20 young people for smoking shisha at a karaoke parlor in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district, officials said Sunday.
Deputy municipal police chief Born Sam Ath said the 20—12 males and eight females—were arrested at Pich Karaoke in Chak Angre Loeu commune.
“We arrested 20 people, and five hookahs were found,” he said.
Iv Thearith, chief of the municipal anti-drug police, said the offenders spent the night at the commune police station and would be released to their parents after being “educated.”
He refused to give their ages.
In February last year, Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered business owners to stop selling shisha because young Cambodians were skipping school to smoke it, and because it could be laced with other drugs.
Mr. Thearith said the owner of the karaoke parlor had not been present at the establishment on Saturday, but that police were pursuing court action against him.
“The owner of the [parlor] is also a student,” he said. “For the owner, we are sending documents to the court and we will wait to see if the prosecutor will charge him.”
