Massive haul of drugs confiscated by navy on Preah Sihanouk island
MORE than 460 kg of illegal drugs were found and confiscated by naval forces of the Front Line Maritime Security Command in a forest on Koh Polowai in Koh Rong Sanloem commune of Preah Sihanouk province’s Koh Rong town.
Tea Sokha, deputy Navy commander and commander of the Front Line Command of the National Committee for Maritime Security (NCMS) General Secretariat, told The Post that the drugs were discovered and seized on the evening of February 6 during naval patrols.
“The drugs weighed 465 kg in total. It is likely they were dumped in that area,” he said.
Sokha said the haul was brought to the NCMS’s Front Line Command by the patrol forces the next day.
Mak Chito, deputy secretary-general of the National
Authority for Combating Drugs (NACD), told The Post that test results indicated that the drugs were ketamine.
“These kinds of drugs are mostly imported by criminals from Taiwan via the sea to evade the authorities,” he said.
According to Chito, in the past, anti-drug police have busted drug smugglers five times in the waters off the southern coast, and in each of those busts, the amount of drugs confiscated was not less than 100kg while the suspects arrested had mostly been Taiwanese.
Chito said an investigation was ongoing to determine who smuggled these drugs and dumped them on Koh Polowai – and who was intended to receive them – in order to bring them to justice.
CAMBODIA Post Bank Plc achieved another significant milestone on Monday after the General Department of Taxation of Cambodia allowed the financial institution to collect taxes.
Individuals and companies can now pay tax – such as property, withholding and vehicle taxes, as well as VAT, among others – at the bank’s branches.
At a special ceremony, the bank announced that the General Department of Taxation of Cambodia had authorised the financial institution to collect taxes as it is well positioned in the market to roll out the new service.
Cambodia Post Bank CEO Toch Chaochek said: “Paying taxes is the responsibility of every citizen to support state spending.
“Taxes are an important source of national income to drive development from the national administration to the sub-national level to meet the needs and necessities of Cambodians.”
Higher tax collection also ensures the sustainability of state expenditure, especially tax revenues, which can be used to build social infrastructure such as schools, hospitals, roads, bridges, parks and pagodas, he added.
“Cambodia Post Bank is very proud that the General Department of Taxation of the Ministry of Economy and Finance
has authorised the bank to collect taxes for the General Department of Taxation.
“Today, Cambodia Post Bank has total assets of over $1 billion, a network of 58 branches, 51 subsidiaries, including the Funan Microfinance
Institution, and 77 ATMs nationwide, making it convenient for customers and the general public to pay taxes easily and take less time,” Chaochek said.
The event was presided over by HE Dr Ken Sambath, the
deputy director of the General Department of Taxation, HE Ok Bora, the Royal Government delegate in charge of the director general of Cambodia Post Bank, and adviser to the bank’s board of directors and senior management and representatives from the tax department.
“The official launch of the Cambodia Post Bank Plc’s services for tax collection is aimed at facilitating, promoting and accelerating the delivery of tax services to taxpayers with greater transparency, accountability and efficiency.
“It can bring tax services closer to taxpayers and help reduce difficulties by regaining their trust.
“The official launch of the Cambodia Post Bank Plc service to collect taxes is a new page in capturing the potential of the information technology of the General Department of Taxation, under the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and the bank.
“It is also an important contribution to the promotion of e-government and Industry 4.0, especially in responding effectively during the Covid-19 pandemic, which requires social distancing,” said Sambath.
Last year, the bank also launched a number of digital banking systems, including online account and loan applications, rapid credit assessment systems, Visa card processing, mobile banking, retail pay and bank transfers via the National Bank of Cambodia’s Bakong system.
The bank’s total assets stood at over $1 billion, totalling more than 100,000 accounts and over 50,000 ATM cards providing financial services to Cambodians.
In addition to tax collection, Cambodia Post Bank offers a wide range of other financial services, including credit and debit cards, loans and savings accounts, as well as domestic and international remittances.
ANEW farm survey tallied 1,726,000 household agricultural holdings in Cambodia or 50.2 per cent of all 3,438,000 households, as counted by the Cambodia Socio-Economic Survey 2017.
The latest Cambodia Inter-censal Agriculture Survey 2019 (CIAS 2019) noted that 88 per cent of household agricultural holdings engaged in crop activity, while 75 per cent reported raising livestock, poultry or insects.
CIAS 2019 is the first large-scale survey of the agriculture sector since the Census of Agriculture in Cambodia 2013, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said in a press statement.
With a report on its findings poised for launch on February 9, FAO said the census is funded by the Cambodian government, the US Agency for International Development (USAID), FAO and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
In partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and with support from FAO, the Ministry of Planning’s National Institute of Statistics (NIS) conducted the survey, collecting data on crop cultivation, livestock and poultry raising, aquaculture and capture fishing, the UN body said.
CIAS 2019 found that an estimated 234,000 household agricultural holdings were involved in capture fishing activity, with 63 per cent reporting lower catches in 2019 than in 2018 and just nine per cent posting larger figures.
The survey assessed that 31 per cent of the household agricultural holdings reported a lower agricultural income in 2019 than in 2018.
Holders were also asked to estimate
the share of their total household income that was accounted for by agriculture – an estimated 32 per cent reported “about half”, 17 per cent said “most or almost all”, while only four per cent indicated “all”.
FAO representative in Cambodia Alexandre Huynh said CIAS 2019 will help close the agricultural data gap and contribute to the effective planning, financing and implementation of agricultural development strategies.
“Timely and quality data will support the Royal Government of Cambodia to ensure food security and mitigate the economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic in Cambodia,” he said.
NIS director-general Hang Lina said FAO provided her institute with technology for use in the data collection.
“I wish to thank FAO for giving NIS access to new technologies, which resulted in the first national tablet-based data collection. I also wish to express my gratitude to USAID for their significant financial support, which was fundamental in successfully completing the CIAS 2019,” she said.
According to FAO, the CIAS 2019 is part of the “AGRISurvey”, a multiyear programme aimed at providing quality information to planners and policymakers and building national capacity on the best survey practices.
As of this year, the AGRISurvey will be incorporated into the “50x2030 Initiative”, a 10-year global programme led by a collaborative partnership between the World Bank, FAO and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), FAO said.
The initiative aims to fill the agricultural data gap in 50 low and lower-middle income countries by 2030, and provide information on the progress made in the adoption and implementation of agriculturerelated Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), it added. Cambodia was the first country to join the initiative in Asia.