Police arrested eight teenagers on Wednesday night during a raid on a shisha cafe in Daun Penh district that had been operating illegally since being shut down following a government-imposed prohibition on the flavored tobacco product, officials said.
The 360 Shisha Lounge on Street 174 was shuttered in early March when Phnom Penh Governor Pa Socheatvong unexpectedly announced a ban, claiming the new craze, whereby users smoke tobacco through Middle-Eastern style water pipes, was sending the capital’s teenagers astray.
Chea Sambath, a Daun Penh district official, said that eight people under the age of 20 were detained for 24 hours after police entered the premises and discovered them smoking shisha pipes—however, the shop owner escaped.
“Shisha is illegal so we have to crack down on it but we did not have to send the eight suspects to court so we released them [Thursday] afternoon after educating them about the ban,” Mr. Sambath said.
Daun Penh district governor Kouch Chomreoun said that authorities were keeping a close eye on former shisha cafes to ensure they were adhering to the ban.
“Any place that openly sells shisha is going against the government, so we must arrest offenders and close the establishment,” he said.
In March, Prime Minister Hun Sen compared the use of shisha pipes to smoking opium and said that the National Authority for Combating Drugs had tested shisha pipes and found they contained a high level of illegal drugs, though Meas Vyrith, the agency’s secretary, said the comparison to opium was erroneous.
On Thursday, Mr. Vyrith said that enforcement of the ban was necessary as shisha is a gateway hobby that will lead young people to try harder drugs.
“Smoking tobacco in this way and with the equipment used to smoke shisha can progress to using other drugs,” he said, adding that the law does not extend to prosecuting those caught smoking shisha, only to those who sell it.
Kol Khannara, chief of police in Phsar Thmei III commune, said that police were pursuing the proprietor of 360 Degrees Shisha Lounge though he did not give the owner’s name.
“The owner of the shisha bar will get arrested but we will wait for the court to issue a warrant,” he said.