Two foreign nationals – a Romanian and a Nigerian
– will be sent to Phnom Penh Municipal Court
today on charges of drug trafficking after police
alleged the pair tried to enter the country with more
than five kilograms of cocaine from Brazil.
– will be sent to Phnom Penh Municipal Court
today on charges of drug trafficking after police
alleged the pair tried to enter the country with more
than five kilograms of cocaine from Brazil.
Lieutenant General Mok Chito, deputy chief of the
National Police’s anti-drug commission, said 35-
year-old Romanian national Varadi Adrian Calin was
detained at Phnom Penh International Airport after
disembarking from a flight from Brazil. Officials
found 4,961.69 grams of Colombian cocaine in his
bags.
After interrogating him, police searched for and
arrested Chukwue Meka, 35, who they say was in
charge of smuggling the cocaine from Cambodia to
Thailand.
Lt. Gen. Chito said his office worked with the US
Drug Enforcement Administration to catch the two
men before the drugs could be transported to
another country.
“We were informed from an international
organization that there was a suspect involved in
drug trafficking who departed from Brazil and was
coming to Cambodia,” he said.
“We seized almost five kilograms of cocaine,” Lt.
Gen. Chito added. “This drug was transported from
Brazil and the traffickers would use Cambodia as a
transit country, before being sent to Thailand. The
cocaine is from Colombia.”
Lt. Gen. Chito said the ringleader of the operation is
still in Brazil, and police were looking for other
people who may be involved in the drug ring. Both
men will be sent to court today.
Cambodia is often used as a transit point for drug
traffickers in Asia due to its less-than-stringent
airport checks compared with other countries. In
late March, a 22-year-old Thai woman flying from
Qatar was found with 2.6 kilograms of cocaine
hidden in a chocolate container.
Another Thai man was caught transporting three
kilograms of methamphetamine from Laos to
Trapaing Chhouk village in Phnom Penh last
Tuesday. After raiding his home in Sen Sok’s
Phnom Penh Thmey commune, police seized two
660-gram packages of heroin, nine packets of
methamphetamine weighing six kilograms, 52,000
speed tablets weighing about 10 kilograms and two
luxury cars.
In all, police seized about 20 kilograms of drugs
from the man, who claimed he had smuggled most
of it from Laos earlier this year.
No comments:
Post a Comment