Military cops booted after failed drug tests

SIX military police officers have been dismissed for illegal drug use amid an ongoing internal investigation, the national military police spokesman said yesterday.

Eng Hy said the six were fired after drug testing revealed traces of narcotics in their urine.

“As members of the armed forces, we need to respect the law,” Hy said. “Therefore, we have been conducting an internal investigation of the military police for about five months. The higher-ups are informed when drug users are found so that these users will be removed.”

He added that military police will “continue to crack down on drug users and disseminate information discouraging drug use . . . We do not have data about how many percent have undergone testing because reports have not been submitted. All personnel [about 10,000] will be investigated.”

RCAF Deputy Commander General Ith Sarath, meanwhile, said that similar urine tests have now begun for the nation’s armed forces as a whole.

The dismissals come amid a government crackdown on drugs that has seen more than 1,000 people arrested since its January 1 launch.

Separately, Touch Samuth, 45, a second lieutenant in the Kampot police force, was arrested on Tuesday after local authorities found him peddling drugs in the province’s Kampong Trach district.

District police chief Seng Sokun Chath said yesterday that after five months of monitoring, the authorities arrested Samuth at his house while he was preparing drugs for distribution.

“He confessed that he bought the drugs from another dealer,” he said. “We looked into the names he gave but could not find anyone . . . He is withholding information.”

He added that 45.17 grams of crystal meth and a pistol were seized during the arrest.