Drug users to appear in court
SPECIALISTS from the Phnom Penh municipal police will send 51 suspects including five women to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday for their involvement in drug-related crimes in Tuol Kork and Daun Penh districts.
Municipal police chief Sar Thet said police were still questioning the suspects at the Phnom Penh municipal police station on Thursday and planned to send them to the court on Friday.
“After we detained the suspects, we began questioning them to identify who were the drug users and who were the traffickers.
“We have not yet finished questioning them, but when we have done so, we will send them to court. We aim to do that on Friday,” he said.
The National Police quoted deputy police chief in charge of the anti-drug division Hout Chanyaran as saying that police forces had cracked down on drug trafficking and use after they received tip-offs from residents of blatant drug use in the area.
He said police responded and detained nine suspects, including three women, and seized eight packets of drugs along the railroad in Daun Penh district’s Srah Chak commune in the capital.
The forces then continued to conduct administrative checks along the railroad in the commune which led to further arrests.
“Users continued to come to the area to buy drugs from the suspects so they were also detained. This meant we detained a further 42 suspects, including two women. We also seized two small packets of drugs, 15 motorcycles and some drug-producing materials,” he said.
Chanyaran said the police also visited two other locations. In total, police detained 51 suspects and seized a total of 10 packets of drugs, 17 motorcycles, five drug-smoking paraphernalia and five lighters as exhibits.
A report from the Phnom Penh municipal police said on Thursday that they were continuing to act following the anti-drug plan and remain vigilant on drug use and its trafficking.
The report said with the help of Phnom Penh Municipal Court prosecutor Riel Sophin, officia ls were operating a successf ul crackdown on illicit drug use and trafficking at places a long t he ra ilroad in Tuol Kork district’s Teuk La’a k II commune in t he capita l and a long the railroad i n Daun Penh dist r ict’s Srah Chak commune.