Frenchman charged over post office drug bust

[geovalin]

Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday charged a French national over the trafficking of nearly half of a kilogram of ecstasy tablets through the post office. Major Sok Setha, a police officer with the Interior Ministry’s Internal Security Police Department, said Maxime Colas, 26, was charged by the court yesterday after authorities seized a package of the drugs weighing 357.59 grams.

 

Maj Setha said Daun Penh district post office officials discovered the package that was sent from Belgium and was addressed to the accused at his home address in Phnom Penh. Maj Setha said the post office workers who made the discovery on Monday contacted officers from the Internal Security Police Department, who set up a sting operation that same day.

 

Police officers, in tandem with a municipal court prosecutor and the post office workers, prepared a plan to bait the suspect to the post office to pick up the drugs, said Maj Setha. Officers then arrested Mr Maxime on Monday morning at about 11am after he arrived at the Daun Penh district post office.

 

read more http://www.khmertimeskh.com/50299570/frenchman-charged-over-post-office-drug-bust/

 

-- © Copyright Khmer Times 05/04

[Sapporillo]

The guy probably financed his stay in Cambodia with the sale of this stuff, and thought it would be safer to get it shipped from Europe than to purchase it from the locals and get ratted out...now he doesn't have to worry about accommodation for a while.  

 

Mr Maxime faces 20 to 30 years in prison if found guilty of the drug trafficking charge. Authorities are now investigating whether or not other people were involved in the shipment of the drugs from Belgium to Cambodia, Maj Setha noted.

[jhonnie]

just plain reckless and not to mention stupid, his life is now over

[phycokiller]

Im not sure what post office workers are doing opening packages, there was another case a few years ago where sn elderly dutch, I think, lady went to jail after have her packs opened by PO workers. I can understand customs doing it, thats their job, but post office workers? in the case of the dutch lady it was something like 5 years jail or pay the police 30,000$. she had no money so she did a few years in jail till a stranger bailed her out

[Sapporillo]

On 4/9/2018 at 8:46 PM, phycokiller said:

Im not sure what post office workers are doing opening packages, there was another case a few years ago where sn elderly dutch, I think, lady went to jail after have her packs opened by PO workers. I can understand customs doing it, thats their job, but post office workers? in the case of the dutch lady it was something like 5 years jail or pay the police 30,000$. she had no money so she did a few years in jail till a stranger bailed her out

Good question, I never thought about that, but I guess they must be getting a reward if they find something illegal. A private provider like UPS would just refuse to ship the package if they suspect illegal activity, but since the post is a public institution, they will work with the authorities. 

[phycokiller]

5 minutes ago, Sapporillo said:

Good question, I never thought about that, but I guess they must be getting a reward if they find something illegal. A private provider like UPS would just refuse to ship the package if they suspect illegal activity, but since the post is a public institution, they will work with the authorities. 

in the case of the old lady, it was about 10 years ago and the PO had a reputation for scamming. I think a worker most likely stole the package and found that it wasnt what it seemed. in the case of packs coming in, maybe customs got it first, but I would think it illegal for PO workers to open packs as its reported they did in both these cases. If I was the french guy I would find a good lawyer. also there wont be any reward unless the guy buys his way out and they get a cut.

[Sapporillo]

1 hour ago, phycokiller said:

in the case of the old lady, it was about 10 years ago and the PO had a reputation for scamming. I think a worker most likely stole the package and found that it wasnt what it seemed. in the case of packs coming in, maybe customs got it first, but I would think it illegal for PO workers to open packs as its reported they did in both these cases. If I was the french guy I would find a good lawyer. also there wont be any reward unless the guy buys his way out and they get a cut.

Did it say explicitly that the PO worker opened the package? Even if he did, which is illegal, he probably won’t have to bear the consequences, and it won’t do anything for the charges against the  Frenchman, not in a Cambodian court, I  think. But may be he just reported a suspicious package to the proper authorities? After all, the post office does have a responsibility, they are not allowed to ship illegal or dangerous goods. There might be no direct reward, but it’s gonna look good on a postal worker’s record to be the one who intercepted a drug package.  

[phycokiller]

4 hours ago, Sapporillo said:

Did it say explicitly that the PO worker opened the package? Even if he did, which is illegal, he probably won’t have to bear the consequences, and it won’t do anything for the charges against the  Frenchman, not in a Cambodian court, I  think. But may be he just reported a suspicious package to the proper authorities? After all, the post office does have a responsibility, they are not allowed to ship illegal or dangerous goods. There might be no direct reward, but it’s gonna look good on a postal worker’s record to be the one who intercepted a drug package.  

unless it was falling out of the pack the only way a postal worker would find it is by taking it home in the hope it contained something valuable, ie theft, which is a bit of a concern . but the articles arent very clear which is why I mentioned it. I would assume customs found it by xray and they set it up to get him to go to the PO and sign for it, because, in western courts anyway, without a signature they have no proof that you asked it to be sent to you

Edited April 11, 2018 by phycokiller

[Sapporillo]

19 hours ago, phycokiller said:

unless it was falling out of the pack the only way a postal worker would find it is by taking it home in the hope it contained something valuable, ie theft, which is a bit of a concern . but the articles arent very clear which is why I mentioned it. I would assume customs found it by xray and they set it up to get him to go to the PO and sign for it, because, in western courts anyway, without a signature they have no proof that you asked it to be sent to you

There could be other ways that a package raises suspicion, for example if you can feel that it is full of pills. If a PO worker suspected that the package contained pills, he could have alerted authorities on this suspicion (it is illegal to ship any kind of drugs internationally). Even if it's not very probable, the point is, that it is possible to be suspicious about the package without opening it. That alone is sufficient to give the PO worker an "excuse" in case the Frenchman tries what you suggested.

 

The article said that the Frenchman tried to pick up the package at the post office, that's how they got him. I think that's the way they usually do it if they intercept a drug shipment.