Cambodian police seize largest ever cocaine

PHNOM PENH - Cambodian anti-drug chief on Wednesday appreciated police and customs officials for their efforts to seize more than 34 kilograms of drugs at the Phnom Penh International Airport and arrest 6 Thai drug traffickers.

"Our officials are very capable, we are proud of them, they have made largest ever cocaine busts these days," deputy prime minister and chairman of the National Authority for Combating Drugs Ke Kim Yan told reporters.

His comment came after the police and customs officials at the Phnom Penh International Airport arrested 6 Thai women who had tried to smuggle over 34 kilograms of drugs into Cambodia.

Varangkran A Phomdee, 29, and her alleged accomplice Tangboo Ketkarn, 31, were arrested on August 7 and 8. The duo were charged by Phnom Penh Municipal Court on August 11 with collaborating to smuggle about 3.6 kilograms of cocaine from Ecuador into Cambodia aboard a flight from Singapore.

On August 13 and 14, Rodsiri Rungeiwa, 24, and Bucha Preedaporn, 35, were also arrested at the airport for concealing about 13 kilograms of cocaine each in their baggage.

In addition, on August 13, Piwjansod Utsanee, 20, was also detained at the airport after police discovered 4.78 kilograms of methamphetamines in her luggage. She confessed that she brought the drug from Brazil and her final destination was Bangkok. Her fellow national Hollaus Nanthiya was also arrested for the same case, according to the website of the National Police.

"They trafficked these drugs from Ecuador, Brazil...and their final destinations are not Cambodia, but Thailand or other countries," Ke Kim Yan said Wednesday, adding that under the country's new drug law, those perpetrators will be seriously punished.

"We do not have death sentence as Singapore and Malaysia do," he said. "In Singapore, a person who traffics in over 30 grams of drug will be sentenced to death. For Cambodia, we have only a life imprisonment."

Under Cambodia's law, a person who traffics in more than 80 grams of drug will be sentenced to a life imprisonment.