Businessman, Taiwanese Get Six Years for Trafficking

[geovalin]

A Taiwanese national and a local businessman were sentenced to six years behind bars by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday after being found guilty of selling a gram of crystal methamphetamine to undercover police in Phnom Penh’s Daun Penh district last year. Presiding judge Ly Lipmeng said Thai Ly, 58, the president of Thai Ly Trading Co, and Lin Tong Huan, 44, from Taiwan, were charged with drug trafficking under Article 40 of the Law on Drug Control.

He added that they were fined 15 million riel (about $3,750) in addition to their sentence. “The court convicts them to six years each and fines them 15 million riel each to put in the state’s budget,” he told the court.

Major Chhoum Sopheap, the Deputy Chief of the third Anti-Drug Intervention Unit, said undercover police contacted the pair, asking to buy only one gram of crystal methamphetamine for about $2,500, way above the street price. Unable to refuse such a generous offer, they agreed to meet at Daun Penh district’s Night Market on July 4 last year at about 11pm. He said the pair rode a motorcycle from NagaWorld Hotel and Casino, which the two often frequented, to the rendezvous where Mr. Ly was immediately arrested by waiting police. Mr. Lin, however, managed to escape.

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