Cambodia promises harsher drug crackdown as arrests soar

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PHNOM PENH (Reuters) – Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen pledged on Wednesday to intensify a campaign against drugs after the arrest of more than 2,400 people for drug-related offences in a month.

The campaign since January in the Southeast Asian country has drawn parallels with the drug crackdown in the Philippines under President Rodrigo Duterte, but Hun Sen said that in Cambodia it would not lead to bloodshed.

 

More than 7,000 people have been killed in the Philippines in the seven month-old drug war under Duterte.

“In the Philippines and other countries, they ordered for the killings of people right on the spot,” Hun Sen told a ceremony at a pagoda. “Cambodia won’t allow this to happen.”

 

Over the past month, 2,428 people have been arrested in Cambodia for drug-related offences, with 1,243 arrested for using drugs, according to official data. In the whole of last year, 9,800 people were arrested in drug cases.

Hun Sen appealed to the public for help with the campaign, saying that parents with children who are addicted to drugs should keep them at home.

 

“The issue here is whether you must have your children in prison or educate them not to use drugs,” Hun Sen said. “The good choice is that parents must control their children well.”

Police in the Philippines have suspended anti-narcotics operations, saying they must first root out police corruption after the kidnap and killing of a South Korean businessman by drug squad officers.

(Reporting by Prak Chan Thul; Editing by Matthew Tostevin)

 

source http://www.euronews.com/2017/02/08/cambodia-promises-harsher-drug-crackdown-as-arrests-soar

 

 

-- © Copyright Euronews 09/02

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 09/02

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Suspected drug kingpin arrested

A wealthy businessman and suspected drug ringleader has been arrested in Stung Treng province after allegedly being caught with 25,000 methamphetamine tablets. Sar Sophal, 51, was arrested by anti-drug police at the border after he brought the drugs from Laos, National Police Lieutenant General Mak Chito said.
 

He was detained yesterday morning by the Interior Ministry anti-drug police unit in collaboration with provincial anti-drug police. “The suspect is a rich Khmer businessman,” Lt. Gen. Chito said.
 

“He has guesthouses, many houses and many hectares of land in Stung Treng province.”   Lt. Gen. Chito said police seized 12 big packages of W.Y. brand methamphetamine, consisting of nearly 25,000 tablets, a pistol, a Toyota Vigo SUV and other material.  

 

read more http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/35274/suspected-drug-kingpin-arrested/

 

 

-- © Copyright Khmer Times 09/02