Court charges drug suspects

Photo by: Heng Chivoan
Police bag evidence during a raid on a home in Prampi Makara district on Sunday. Four people arrested during the raid were charged yesterday with distributing and manufacturing illicit drugs.

via Khmer NZ

Friday, 20 August 2010 15:02 Thet Sambath

PHNOM Penh Municipal Court has charged four people with distributing and manufacturing illicit drugs following questioning by police.

Police arrested two men and two women on Sunday during a raid on an apartment in Phnom Penh’s 7 Makara district. They also confiscated around 200 grams of crystal methamphetamine, 49 packets of drug precursor chemicals and other materials used in drug production.

After their arrest on Sunday, all four confessed to engaging in drug trafficking and consumption for several years, and production for over a year.

Prosecutor Ek Chheng Huot said yesterday that the four were charged after four days of questioning.

“I have charged the four suspects with smuggling, distributing, manufacturing and maintaining drugs,” he said. “I decided to charge them after I found there was evidence.”

He said that the four suspects were sent to Prey Sar prison pending further investigation.

Phnom Penh deputy police chief Sok Khmearin said he approved of the charges against the suspects, and that they capped a fruitful investigation.

“This charge means that the crackdown is useful and the work of police is worth it. They were charged because of the evidence we obtained at the place we raided,” he said.

Police informed media of the raid on Sunday. One of the men arrested said at the time that he was unsure why drug-related materials were in his house.

“I do not know these objects at my house,” he said. “I do not make drugs or traffic drugs.”