Police Kill 1 During Drug Raid, Find No Drugs Found

In an apparent drug raid gone bad, drug enforcement officials from the Ministry of Interior and the Phnom Penh municipality shot two suspected drug dealers late Wednesday night, killing one and wounding the second, a mun­icipal police officer said.

According to anti-drug police, officers found no drugs on the victims and no evidence that either man was involved in drug dealing.

The anti-drug authorities re­portedly fired three shots at the suspects at 11 pm Wednesday in Daun Penh district near Wat Phnom, officials said. One of the suspects was taken to Calmette Hospital, but died from a gunshot to the neck. Another man identified only as “Chanda” was shot in the shoulder and treated at the hospital.

The authorities allowed the surviving suspect to be released from Calmette Hospital Thurs­day. The police did not charge him with any crime.

“The carelessness of anti-drug police for the Ministry of Interior, who cooperated with the Muni­cipal anti-drug police [Wednes­day night], left two innocent Phnom Penh people traveling at night dead or wounded,” said a police official who declined to be named.

Ngorn Khim, deputy municipal anti-drug police chief, said he had not received any reports about the incident, but was looking into the matter.

Witnesses near Wat Phnom con­tacted Thursday said they heard several gunshots at around 11 pm, but said they did not know any details about the shooting.

One witness at Wat Phnom, who declined to be named, said that after he heard several gunshots, he saw two cars—one a Toyota Camry and another car which he described as “very nice”—drive away quickly.

(Addi­tional reporting by Ana Nov)

 

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