Police Nab 6 Smugglers in Separate Meth Busts

Police on Tuesday arrested six people and confiscated nearly a kilogram of crystal methamphetamine, as well as some 4,000 methamphetamine pills, during separate busts in Stung Treng and Battambang provinces, officials said on Thursday.

Stung Treng provincial military police arrested 29-year-old Ly Sivatana for allegedly smuggling 927 grams of crystal methamphetamine across the Lao border into Cambodia, following a high-speed car chase with the suspect that ended in Siem Reap province, said Sao Sarem, deputy military police commander for the province.

Mr. Sarem said police had been investigating Mr. Sivatana for the past two weeks, but were unable to pin any hard evidence on him until he switched the license plates on his Lexus RX330 SUV from civilian ones to those bearing Royal Cambodian Armed Forces colors on Tuesday, at which point four military-police vehicles pursued him into Siem Reap.

“We arrested him and confiscated 927 grams of ice hidden in his Lexus 330 that we suspect he smuggled from Laos,” he said.

“The suspect may have high-ranking officers behind him, so our military police are continuing to investigate,” he added.

In a separate raid in Battambang, police arrested five suspects, including two women, near the Cambodian-Thai border for colluding to traffic nearly 4,000 methamphetamine pills, Sampov Loun district police chief Pich Saren said.

Ouk Thai and his brother-in-law Nhik Nhien, both 30, were arrested alongside Chhit Borin, 28, and two female accomplices for attempting to smuggle the pills using a car belonging to Mr. Thai and Mr. Nhien, Mr. Saren said, adding that all five individuals admitted to the crime.

“They used a Toyota Camry car to smuggle the drugs, which were hidden inside the spare tire,” he said.

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