Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Thursday sentenced a Vietnamese national to 28 years in prison and fined her $20,000 after she was found guilty of smuggling almost 2 kg of drugs from India to Cambodia.
Nguyen Thikimnhi, 47, was arrested at Phnom Penh International Airport in July when police found three packages containing 1.54 kg of methamphetamine in her suitcase.
“The court found Ms. Thikimnhi guilty of smuggling more than 1.5 kg of methamphetamine,” said Presiding Judge Sin Visal on handing down the verdict.
Ms. Thikimnhi told the court during her hearing on January 21 that she was unaware the drugs were inside her suitcase, which she said she was delivering to Phnom Penh on behalf of a man in India.
She later confessed that the suitcase was hers but maintained the drugs were not.
“I carried the case, but I did not know what was inside. The drugs did not belong to me,” she said.
