Drugs suspects on trial + Two guilty in $41,000 meth sting

Two Thai women were tried yesterday over their alleged attempts to smuggle more than half a kilogram of cocaine from Brazil to Thailand via Phnom Penh.

In May 2013, Cambodian Anti-Drug Police received a tip from Thai officials about a drug-trafficking network with plans to bring drugs through Phnom Penh International Airport, according to Colonel Yeng Bunna of the Anti-Drug Police.

Thanyanat Sama-Arphat, 31, was arrested at the airport on May 4 last year after police found six packages of cocaine hidden in her underwear, Bunna said.

Police arrested a second woman, Wong Trakool Sangdao, 41, who they believe travelled to Phnom Penh to receive the drugs at the Khmer City Hotel in Prampi Makara District.

According to Bunna, the women were part of a trafficking ring led by two Nigerian men, Osanna and John, living in Thailand. Both women denied knowledge of the drugs, saying they had only agreed to transport clothing for $3,000 each. Their verdicts are expected on March 27.

Phnom Penh Municipal Court convicted two men and a woman yesterday for selling crystal meth worth $41,000 to an undercover police officer in the capital’s Dangkor district last year.

Presiding judge Kim Dany said that Bun Ly, 43, and Meas Sam Nang, 46, were both sentenced to 13 years in prison, and Ly Sophal, 45, was sentenced to 12 years. All three were fined 20 million riel ($5,020) each.

Anti-drug police officer 2nd Lieutenant Thun Nary said the three were longtime targets, and that undercover police were finally able to arrest them by negotiating last June’s $41,000 drug deal.

The police seized 750 grams of methamphetamine and two Toyota Camrys from the defendants in the raid.

Bun Ly yesterday said he would appeal the verdict, and maintained that he had been framed.

“[The drugs] belonged to undercover police, who put them in my car in order to accuse me,” he said.

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/two-guilty-41000-meth-sting