Pair of suspects caught after undercover sting operation in S Treng

TWO suspects were charged at the Ratanakkiri Provincial Court and sent to pre-trial detention at the provincial prison on Saturday following their arrest on Friday for alleged drug trafficking in Stung Treng province.

Ratanakkiri Provincial Court spokesman Keo Pisoth told The Post on Sunday that Investigating Judge San Bunthoeun had charged the suspects, Thong Phin, 41, and Lai Sou Lib, 28, with drug trafficking.

The men were arrested on Friday at Sre Por village’s Sekong Bridge, in Stung Treng town’s Srah Russey commune.

Leang Im, chief of the Ratankkiri provincial Anti-Drug Bureau, told The Post that the suspects lived in Pakalan commune’s Pakalan village, in Ratanakkiri province’s Veun Sai district.

He said police, in collaboration with authorities from the Ministry of Interior’s provincial Anti-Drug Department, had earlier this month pretended to buy 3kg of methamphetamine from the suspects.

Im said the suspects were initially concerned that the money the undercover authorities had given them might be counterfeit.

After checking it, he said, the suspects returned to Veun Sai district and made an appointment to hand over the drugs in Pakalan commune, but later they decided to change the location.

On Friday, the suspects made another appointment with the authorities and told them to take a ferry to Pakalan commune where they lived.

However, police told the suspects that taking the ferry to Veu Sai district could make the au

The suspects asked the undercover policemen to collect the drugs in Stung Treng town

thorities suspicious and asked for a better place to meet.

“The suspects then asked the undercover policemen to collect the drugs in Stung Treng town. This sounded like a good idea, so the authorities arranged to meet the men at Sekong Bridge in Sre Por village. It was there that they were arrested,” Im said.