Police raid shisha club, arrest 80

[geovalin]

PHNOM PENH, May 30 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian National Police's Anti- Drug Department had raided a shisha business here and detained 50 users for education, the National Police said in its website on Saturday.

The raid was conducted Friday night at Sahara Nightclub, which secretly operated shisha business, the website said, citing Brigadier General San Sothy, deputy chief of the Anti-Drug Department. "Some 50 shisha users, including 11 females, were detained, and 20 shisha pipes and some shisha products were seized as evidence," he said, adding that the users would be freed after being educated.

According to San Sothy, the police has tested their urines and found that two of them were also drug users.

Shisha business is illegal in Cambodia since February last year when Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered the closure of all shisha and e-cigarette businesses, saying the increasing popular products contained high levels of addictive substances.

Shisha is flavored tobacco smoked through a water pipe. It originated in the Middle East but has gained in popularity in much of the world.

According to a report by the World Health Organization, shisha carries the same risks as any tobacco product, but since smoking sessions typically last longer, the volume of smoke inhaled can be 20 times that of a cigarette.

Copyright2015 Xinhua News Agency

http://www.globalpost.com/article/6565582/2015/05/30/cambodia-raids-shisha-business-detaining-50-users-education

Police raid shisha club, arrest 80

Mon, 1 June 2015

Buth Reaksmey Kongkea

Police arrested 80 people in two Phnom Penh raids over the weekend for allegedly smoking the flavoured tobacco product shisha, which was banned in Cambodia early last year, police said yesterday.

Brigadier General San Suthy, deputy chief of the Ministry of Interior’s Anti-Drug Police Department, said that 50 youths were arrested in a raid on the Sahara Club in Chamkarmon district on Friday night.

In the raid, police located and seized 20 pipes for smoking shisha and two samurai swords.

The suspects were later released after signing contracts foreswearing future shisha use.

“We now are seeking to arrest the owners of the club, who have escaped, because they have violated the regulation of the head of government,” he said.

Last February, authorities cracked down on shisha nationwide after Prime Minister Hun Sen called for “urgent” action to ban the substance.

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/police-raid-shisha-club-arrest-80

[HeijoshinCool]

Yep, children being prostituted without penalty, but let's arrest smokers.