18 people charged in connection with huge Cambodian drug bust

Thursday, April 5, 2007
The Associated Press

"Cambodia has recently become a production point for illegal synthesized drugs such as amphetamines" - Lt. Gen. Luor Ramin, secretary-general of the Cambodian National Authority for Combating Drugs

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Eighteen people, including three Chinese nationals and a Thai man, have been formally charged in court in connection with what has been described as Cambodia's biggest drug bust, officials said Thursday.

Khut Sopheang, a prosecutor at a court in Kampong Speu province, said he has charged two Chinese men and the Thai national with producing and trafficking drugs — crimes that are punishable by 20 years to life in prison.

He said that he also charged 14 Cambodians with conspiracy to produce drugs, which carries the same penalty.

Ouk Savouth, the chief prosecutor at Phnom Penh Municipal Court, said he has charged a Chinese woman with producing and trafficking drugs as part of the same case.

The 18 suspects were nabbed during separate raids last weekend on a house in Phnom Penh and a farm in Kampong Speu.

Authorities seized more than three tons of chemicals used to produce amphetamine-type stimulants during the raid of the farm in Kampong Speu, about 45 kilometers (27 miles) west of the capital Phnom Penh.

On Monday, police Lt. Gen. Luor Ramin, secretary-general of the Cambodian National Authority for Combating Drugs, said the chemicals represented the country's largest-ever seizure of drug-making materials.

He said the farm was used for storing, mixing and distributing the chemical to other points in the country, to be turned into a form of amphetamine, often referred to locally as "crazy pills."

The most important ingredient in amphetamine-type drugs is ephedrine — also used in cold medicines — whose trade is supposed to be strictly controlled by international law and by the domestic laws of many nations.

Luor Ramin said Cambodia has recently become a production point for illegal synthesized drugs such as amphetamines.

The prosecutors said all the suspects are now in detention pending further investigation and their trials could begin in six months.