Trio faces drug pushing charges

Photo by: Sovan Philong

Sum Sovath, 37, a former Prey Sar prison guard accused of dealing drugs, leaves Phnom Penh Municipal Court following a hearing Monday.

via CAAI

Monday, 27 December 2010 18:27 Chrann Chamroeun

Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday heard the case against three men – including an ex-Prey Sar prison guard – who stand accused of dealing drugs, said presiding judge Ker Sakhorn.

Mak Kongkea, 24, was arrested on July 30 in Daun Penh district’s Boeung Keng Kang III commune as he was handing a man an envelope containing one gram of crystal methamphetamine, he said.

Kongkea then blew the whistle on his accomplice Sum Sovath, 37, a former Prey Sar prison guard, from whose apartment police discovered an additional five grams of the drug hidden under the mattress. Sovath’s roommate, Voa Dara, an 18-year-old Vietnamese, was also arrested and charged.

At Monday’s hearing, the three alleged drug dealers initially pleading not guilty, but changed their plea after Ker Sakhorn requested that they tell the truth. Sum Savuth testified that he had been cheated.

“I didn’t know about the illegal drug deals, Thy gave me an envelope and I was supposed to give it to another man for 150,000 riels,” he told the court. “I was betrayed.”

But Mak Kongkea testified that Savuth had given him the initial envelope.

“Savuth told me to bring the envelope with the ice to Boeung Keng Kang III commune and give it to a man called Thy, who was supposed to pay US$300. But before he paid the money, I was arrested and Thy fled,” he said. He added that he had only dealt drugs twice before his arrest.

Presiding Judge Ker Sakhorn said a verdict would be announced on Wednesday.