Martin de Bourmont and Niem Chheng

 

When Van Phearon, 32, was swept up on the afternoon of January 24 by a group of Daun Penh district police officers as part of a drug crackdown that began on the first of that month, he quickly discovered the price of freedom.

 

Phearon says police initially asked him for $1,000, encouraging him to call family members or friends who could contribute money for his release. When he told them he had no one to call, the officers allegedly asked if he had any money himself.

 

“If you can bring us the money before we get to the station, we will let you go,” Phearon says he was told. With little to offer them, he says, the police took his Nokia 1280 cell-phone, his wallet and the $7.50 tucked inside, but it wasn’t enough to secure his release.

 

read more http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/amid-nations-drug-crackdown-extortion-flourishes-users-say

 

 

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