More than 12 tons of drugs and precursors were seized from two labs on mango farms in Kampong Speu and a Phnom Penh BKK 1 condominium, leading to the arrests of five individuals, antidrug police said.
Two Siem Reap military police officers tasked with fighting drug crimes in the province were charged with conspiracy to traffic drugs and failing to report a crime.
A Phnom Penh judge sentenced 11 men to life in prison following their conviction on charges of running a ketamine mass-production plant at a Kampong Speu location that also housed a prominent agribusiness.
Cambodian authorities seized 4.7 tons of drugs and 84 tons of precursor chemicals last year, a major increase especially in precursors, according to government figures.
Sam Da, who was convicted for drug possession and dealing, pleaded with the Supreme Court for leniency and asked the high court to consider her living and financial situation at the time of the drug deal.
Eighty tons of ketamine precursors have been found following a fatal shootout and seizure of 1.4 tons of the drug that led authorities to a Kampong Speu lab, where a prominent agroindustrial company said it was merely leasing facilities within the same compound.
Court documents show that Botha was arrested at the Phnom Penh International Airport in September 2016 after traveling from Brazil to Cambodia, via Dubai and Thailand. He was found with nearly 600 grams of cocaine in his stomach.
Three raids in Sen Sok, Boeng Keng Kang’s Street 302 and a condo on Koh Pich netted nearly 86,000 pink ecstasy tablets, 155,000 grey tablets and 50 kg of powder.
A Cambodian man says he was not involved in drug production — a charge for which he was convicted in 2017 — and wants the Supreme Court to overturn his conviction based on testimony from a co-accused who said he was not part of the operations.
Drug cases are continuing to fill the courts as sentences heard on Monday ranged from three and a half years for a man caught with 1.29 grams of meth to 26 years for a Chinese national convicted of production.
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