Three stories about corrupted or trafficker police officers, end of impunity

A captain with the military’s Brigade 911 unit, notorious for its involvement in crackdowns on civilians, was arrested in Phnom Penh in the early hours of yesterday morning on suspicion of drug trafficking, according to police.

Lieutenant Colonel Yim Sarann, chief of Por Sen Chey district police, said 26-year-old Chhorn Makara was arrested at about 12:30am while riding his motorbike in Choam Chao commune.

“Our police on patrol had suspected [he was carrying drugs] and checked him,” Sarann said.

“After searching him, we found two packs of methamphetamine powder hidden inside his motorbike and a pistol.”

read more: http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/captain-911-charged

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A tale of alleged bribery in Kampot earned Post journalist Phak Seangly first place yesterday as Transparency International Cambodia awarded its first-ever prizes for Outstanding Reporting on Corruption in Cambodia.

The awards, attended by Information Minister Khieu Kantharith and Anti-Corruption Unit boss Om Yentieng, saw Post reporters capture three of the five awards handed out.

Seangly’s May 27 feature told the tale of three women’s battle to retrieve some $18,000 they say a court official had taken in a failed bid to grant freedom for their husbands – suspects in the murder of an alleged sorcerer.

read more: http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/corruption-reporting-kudos-post-journos

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The former police chief of Kandal province’s Takhmao town was arrested by military police on his own former turf on Tuesday, when he was allegedly found to be in possession of more than a dozen individually packaged bags of methamphetamine.

Mom Vat, 63, is currently in pretrial detention after his arrest by military police, who found the bags of meth on his person, Touch Y, Kandal’s provincial military police commander, said yesterday.

“He is the former Takhmao town police chief, but he stopped working when he reached retirement age,” Y said about Vat yesterday.

read more: http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ex-takhmao-police-chief-arrested