The Stung Treng Provincial Court on Monday charged a local farmer with drug trafficking after police arrested him near the Laotian border in Thala Barivat district on Saturday, officials said.
According to Investigating Judge Eang Kimthol, the farmer, Tham Chhoeu, 46, was charged with drug trafficking for allegedly attempting to smuggle 775.2 grams of powdered methamphetamine and sent to the provincial prison to await trial.
Provincial anti-drug police chief Nou Hour said Mr. Chhoeu was arrested while walking back to his home in O’Svay commune after picking up the drugs near the border.
Mr. Hour said the suspect had been under investigation by his unit, and that an undercover officer had learned that he would be picking up an incoming shipment from a dealer in Laos.
“We arrested the suspect on Saturday along the road in O’Svay commune about 3 km from the Cambodia-Laos border,” Mr. Hour said. He added that police hid in the forest along the man’s route home and ambushed Mr. Chhoeu and two other suspects, but that the other two had escaped.
“We confiscated nearly 1 kg of methamphetamine that had been put inside a plastic container,” he said.
