Phnom Penh police are investigating a traffic accident that led authorities to find 200 kg of drugs inside a military pickup truck.
Municipal police spokesperson San Sokseyha said a military-green Isuzu Hi-Lander with a Royal Cambodian Armed Forces license plate crashed at high speed into two cars on National Road 1 in Chbar Ampov district around 11:30 p.m. Sunday.
Police arrived at the scene in Veal Sbov commune to find 200 kg of drugs, but no driver, Sokseyha said.
“The suspect escaped immediately, according to the people who live around there who made the report,” he said. “Before the authorities arrived, he had already fled.”
He did not say what type of drugs were found in the vehicle, but said a specialist team was investigating.
RCAF spokesperson Thong Solimo said he had not yet received any information about the case.
Drug seizures have soared in the past couple of years — 4.7 tons of drugs and 84 tons of precursor chemicals were found last year — as the U.N. Office of Drugs and Crime has warned that Cambodia was increasingly targeted by international organized crime for the manufacture and trafficking of illicit substances, notably methamphetamine.
Major recent drug busts have found tons of ketamine and precursors in Phnom Penh, Kampong Speu and Preah Sihanouk. The amount of illicit chemicals found this year is set to easily eclipse last year’s total.
