Cambodia, Vietnam pledge to intensify drug combat cooperation

Xinhua | 2012-8-15

Cambodia and Vietnam on Wednesday expressed their commitment to intensify cooperation to fight against cross border drug trafficking and all forms of drug offensives.

The commitment was made during a meeting between Cambodian deputy Prime Minister Ke Kim Yan, chairman of the National Authority for Combating Drugs, and visiting Vietnamese deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, chairman of the National Committee for Prevention and Control of Drugs, AIDS and Prostitution.

Speaking at the meeting, Ke Kim Yan said that Cambodia is not the country that produces illicit drug, but it has been suffering from cross border drug smuggling, drug use, and attempts to use Cambodia as a base for illicit drug production by foreign criminals.

Some 10,000 Cambodians gather to observe int'l day against drug

Hun To, Hun Xen's nephew, is accused of drug trafficking (Photo: CEN)

2012-6-26
Xinhua

Approximately 10,000 government officials, civil servants, non-governmental organizations and students gathered at the capital's Olympic Stadium on Tuesday to celebrate the International Day against Drug.

Speaking at the event, Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sar Kheng said the celebration was to promote awareness among people, especially youths, to understand about serious impacts which are triggered by drugs.

The event was also to promote broader public participation to fight against drug production, circulation, and use effectively.

Six raids net huge drug haul

Safrole oil is used in the production of ecstasy pills, like these, which were seized in a raid on a laboratory in New York. (Reuters)

Thursday, 03 May 2012
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
The Phnom Penh Post

Eleven people were arrested and more than 3,000 litres of safrole oil – enough to manufacture 30 million tablets of ecstasy – were seized on Tuesday and yesterday during raids on six drug-producing sites in the capital, police said.

The raids, the product of a months-long investigation, were led by Brigadier General Touch Naruth, chief of Phnom Penh Municipal Police, and Chiv Keng, president of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, along with related district governors and officials of the four city districts where the raids occurred.

“I think that this is a big operation for cracking down on drugs,” said Pen Rath, deputy chief of the Phnom Penh Municipal Police. “This is another success, and we have arrested many drug dealers, cracked down on many drug-producing sites, and seized a lot of safrole in the city.”

According to Pen Rath, investigators found that the confiscated safrole was imported by drug dealers across the porous Cambodian-Thai border.

Drug bust convictions skyrocket

Drug bust (Photo: Sok Serey, RFA)

Wednesday, 28 March 2012
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea with additional reporting by Kristin Lynch
The Phnom Penh Post

The number of drug-related convictions in Cambodia nearly quadrupled last year, a sobering statistic officials yesterday blamed on the nation’s increasing popularity as a transit point for international drug traffickers.

“Drug criminals continue to use Cambodia as a targeted place of drug producing and drug trafficking,” Interior Minister Sar Kheng said in Phnom Penh yesterday at the annual meeting of the National Authority for Combating Drugs.

These activities were “dangerous” for Cambodian society, he said, disrupting peace and security and impacting on people’s livelihoods, as users were spending money on drugs instead of staples such as food and shelter.

Cambodian court sentences Filipino woman to 15 years in jail for drug trafficking

PHNOM PENH, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Phnom Penh Municipal Court in the Philippines on Thursday convicted a Filipino woman of cross- border drug trafficking and sentenced her to 15 years in jail and fined 30 million riel (7,500 U.S. dollars), according to a verdict read by Presiding Judge Sin Visal.

Cadalso Vilma Cristales, 42, was arrested last May at the Phnom Penh International Airport while arriving in Cambodia with 72 grams of cocaine.

Thursday's verdict said that the punishment was made based on the new article 32.2 of the amended law on drug control.

According to the Cambodian law, the convict has one month to appeal against the verdict.

Bribe money not in account

Former anti-drug czar Moek Dara (centre) is escorted by police at Banteay Meanchey provincial court last month. (Photo by: May Titthara)

Monday, 05 December 2011
Chhay Channyda
The Phnom Penh Post

The trial against former anti-drug czar Moek Dara wrapped up on Friday with the revelation that an audit of his bank account showed he had just a fraction of the amount of the millions of dollars he is accused of eliciting in bribes from drug dealers.

The former head of the National Authority for Combating Drugs, who is facing 32 drug-related corruption charges in a trial with two of his underlings, reportedly welcomed the revelation that his bank account contained only $US80,000.

“Moek Dara told the judge that he was happy with the revelation of his property because it is a justice after he was alleged of having millions of money after the arrest,” Nop Virak, a monitor for the rights group Cambodian Center for Human Rights, said late last week.

Cambodia Passes Drug Law Allowing For Up To Two Years of Forced Drug “Rehab”

December 2, 2011
Faine Greenwood
UN Dispatch

This is not the “progress” that Cambodia repeatedly claims it is making in its attempt to become a modern, wealthy nation, and such laws will do nothing whatsoever to combat drug addiction.

Cambodia has a serious problem with drug addiction and trafficking, and last Friday, the National Assembly passed a big new drug law with a 79-1 majority mandating stricter punishments for both users and traffickers.

Although tougher possession penalties and longer sentences for the possession of drugs such as methamphetamine, morphine, and cocaine are part of the law, infinitely more worrisome is the little-debated measure’s hardline new approach towards the treatment of addicts.

The new law, which has been vocally opposed by NGOs, will allow supposed drug addicts to be forcibly detained inside drug rehab facilities from 6 to 24 months if they are considered to be, according to the Cambodia Daily article on the subject, “capable of harming themselves or a danger to society” – a rather imprecise distinction that can be made by police and prosecutors.

Former anti-drugs chief in Cambodia accused of taking part in trade [-CPP Peal See CPP Peal!]

Moek Dara in white shirt (front row) (Photo: CEN)

Jan 24, 2011
DPA

'The government has taken a hot measure, including the crackdown against high-ranking officials up to the rank of three-star general' - Hun Sen [KI-Media note: Four-star generals and above are above the law?]

Phnom Penh - The former head of Cambodia's anti-drugs department who was arrested this month faces a life sentence after the government accused him of masterminding a drugs-selling ring from his office, local media reported Monday.

General Mok Dara was arrested shortly after a number of other senior officials were held on suspicion of corruption and drugs offences.

'They used the anti-drug department as a network for selling drugs,' Om Yentieng, the head of the government's Anti-Corruption Unit, told The Phnom Penh Post newspaper, accusing Mok Dara and a number of other officials currently facing trial.

'Under the new penal code, a person who sells drugs will be sentenced to life in prison,' Om Yentieng was quoted as saying.

He said Mok Dara was arrested after a recent case in which he confiscated 2 kilogrammes of heroin. Om Yentieng alleged that the drugs chief declared only 1 kilogramme to the court and kept the remainder at his office along with thousands of methamphetamine tablets.

WikiLeaks sheds light on [Moek] Dara

Moek Dara

Sunday, 23 January 2011
James O'Toole
The Phnom Penh Post

Ousted anti-drug czar Moek Dara served as a trusted source for United States embassy officials in Phnom Penh, according to an American diplomatic cable released by the transparency organisation WikiLeaks, raising questions about the quality of intelligence available to diplomats and development organisations.

In the 2006 cable, the first from the US Embassy in Phnom Penh released by WikiLeaks, Moek Dara and an unnamed official from the World Health Organisation offer accounts of Cambodia’s drug enforcement and prevention efforts.

Moek Dara served as secretary general of the National Authority for Combating Drugs before being arrested earlier this month, standing accused of heading up a ring of corrupt officials involved in extortion and drug trafficking.

Citing Moek Dara, the American cable touts a “dramatic increase in heroin and [amphetamine-type stimulant] seizures and drug arrests”.

Sacrava's Political Cartoon: The Beast Unit

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

Novice anti-drugs officer held for 10-kilogram heroin stash

Mon, 05 Oct 2009
DPA

Phnom Penh - A police officer who was less than a week into his post in Cambodia's anti-drugs squad has been arrested after police found 10 kilograms of heroin stashed at his home in the capital, national media reported Monday. The raid on the house of Bun Pov, a first lieutenant in the anti-drugs squad, also uncovered 2 kilograms of methamphetamines as well as large quantities of chemicals used to process and make drugs.

Mok Dara, the head of the National Authority for Combating Drugs, told the Cambodia Daily newspaper the raid was part of a concerted effort by the government to combat illicit drugs.

"We vow to crack down on all drug-making and drug transit," Mok Dara said.

Cambodia has long been seen as a regional transit point for drugs shipments, particularly heroin.

US report drug problems in Cambodia ... A good case for the FBI to investigate and find out who's involved in drug trafficking in Cambodia

US: drug problems in Cambodia, Philippines

Fri., Feb. 27, 2009
By FOSTER KLUG
AP

WASHINGTON - The United States on Friday praised Beijing for its efforts to fight drug smugglers but said China remains a major transit point for international drug markets.

The State Department, in its annual survey of global counter-narcotics efforts, also described substantial drug problems facing Asia, including in Cambodia, the Philippines and Myanmar; progress was seen in Laos and Vietnam.

While Beijing recognizes drugs as a major threat to its security and economy, "corruption in far-flung drug-producing and drug transit regions of China limits what dedicated enforcement officials can accomplish," the report said.

North Korean drug activity, the report said, "appears to be down sharply. There have been no instances of drug trafficking suggestive of state-directed trafficking for six years."

But, the State Department said, not enough evidence exists to determine if state-sponsored trafficking has stopped. The State Department has previously raised suspicions that Pyongyang derived money from drug production and trafficking.

In the report, the United States also said that drug runners have increasingly looked to move their products through Cambodia because of Thai and Chinese crackdowns.

The report noted "a significant and growing illegal drug problem" in Cambodia. It praised the country for destroying seized drugs and stiffening penalties for drug use and trafficking but said corruption hampers government efforts.

The State Department called the scope of the drug problem in the Philippines "immense," despite law enforcement efforts to disrupt major drug organizations. Still, the report said, the government had some success enforcing counter-narcotics laws.

Laos has made "tremendous progress" in reducing opium cultivation, but, the report said, the country's momentum is "stalling, and gains remain precarious."

Vietnam was said to have continued making progress in fighting drugs, improving its pursuit of drug runners and its cooperation among state agencies and with the United Nations.

The report said that, in 2007, rising opium values pushed poppy cultivation into new regions of military-run Myanmar. The State Department did not receive 2008 U.N. statistics on Myanmar in time for the annual report.
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Associated Press writer William C. Mann contributed to this story.