Sassafras (M'reah Prov) Oil Export Worries Drug Officials

By Mean Veasna, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
07 March 2008

The use of sassafras tree oil in the production of the drug Ecstasy is a rising concern for authorities.

Cambodia has become an exporter of the oil of the sassafras tree, which is used in the manufacture of the drug Ecstasy.

Sassafras oil mainly comes from the three provinces of Koh Kong, Pursat and Battambang, said Luar Ramin, secretary-general of the National Authority for Combating Drugs, at a recent conference.

The sassafras tree, especially Cambodia's mountain variety, produces an oil high in the chemical safrole, which is in turn used to produce the head-shaking, euphoric drug.

"According to the report of Vietnam, submitted through [the UN drug control office], between 2003 and 2005, the tree oil has been shipped in the hundreds of tons, through Vietnam for the international market," Luar Ramin said. "When Vietnam stopped buying it, the tree oil was exported through Thailand, and they seized 50 tons of it. This is a critical sign of worry."

Cambodia's forestry law prohibits the harvest or transport of sassafras oil, which is classified as a top-tier controlled substance.

Eng Chhunthan, a rights worker for Licadho based in Pursat, said he has received verbal reports that the cultivation of the oil continues in forests far from provincial centers.

Cambodia to end trade in key ecstasy ingredient [-M'reah Prov oil to be banned]

PHNOM PENH, March 6 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia is seeking ways to include the illicit trade in oil from the rare M'reah Prov tree into its anti-drug legislation, local media reported Thursday.

"Introducing legislation is crucial to stopping all forms of trade in M'reah Prov oil and would enable us to impose heavy punishments on traffickers," Lou Ramin, general secretary of the National Authority for Combating Drugs (NACD), was quoted by the Mekong Times as saying.

He said that Vietnam has reported many hundreds of tons of the oil being smuggled into its country from 2003 to 2006, while Thailand reported that it seized 50 tons of M'reah Prov oil smuggled from Cambodia in 2007.

The Cambodian Ministry of Agriculture's forestry administration said that the country's M'reah Prov trees are mostly found in the provinces of Pursat, Battambang and Koh Kong.

Wong Hoy Yuen, a project coordinator from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, said that M'reah Prov oil is up to 90 percent rich in Safrole oil, which is used as the main precursor in the clandestine manufacture of MDMA, a drug popularly known as "ecstasy".

M'reah Prov resin is often illegally tapped from trees in Cambodia's densely forested northwestern regions, the newspaper said.

The species is seriously under threat because the slow-growing trees are cut down so the stump and roots of the trees can be boiled to extract the oil, it added.

Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia cooperate in drug control

08/12/2007
VNA (Hanoi)

VietNamNet Bridge – The 7th Vietnam-Laos-Cambodia Drug Control Officials’ Meeting opened in Siem Reap, Cambodia, on December 5 under the chairmanship of Cambodia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sar Kheng.

The Vietnamese delegation to the meeting is headed by Public Security Minister Le The Tiem.

Participants reviewed their drug fighting cooperation between their border provinces and discussed the exchange of information and experiences in fighting cross-border drug crimes.

They worked out plan to assist each other in preventing the trading of narcotics and strengthen coordination to effectively prevent cross-border drug trafficking.

Cambodian Deputy PM Sar Kheng said that the three countries have obtained marked achievements in the fight against drug crimes. However, there remained problems that require relevant agencies of the three countries to strengthen cooperation to put this evil under control.

At the meeting, Vietnam agreed to help train anti-drug crime forces for Laos and Cambodia in 2008 and build a detoxification centre for Cambodia.

The three sides also agreed to cooperate to prevent the trade of sassafras oil, a precursor chemical for illegal drug (MDMA), from Cambodia to Vietnam and Laos.

Vietnam pledged continued cooperation with Laos and Cambodia within regional and world agreements on drug control.

Killer-cop still at large

Wednesday, March 7, 2007

By KS
Cambodge Soir
Translated from French by Tola Ek

The police officer who shot and killed a 27-year-old woman on Sunday evening, during a raid against the illegal trade of M’reah Prov tree oil is still at large. Pen Sarath, the deputy prosecutor of the Pursat provincial court said yesterday that he has not charged the man since he did not receive yet a written police report. “The police commissioner only gave me a verbal report by phone, so I cannot bring charge,” he explained.

According to the Pursat police commissioner, the police officer who belongs to a unit for the protection of the Cardamom mountain chain, was patrolling with three other officers when they decided to follow 2 cars with 3 passengers transporting 1,400 kilos of M’reah Prov tree oil, a tree extract used in cosmetic and in making ecstasy pills. The officers lost track of the cars at one point as the cars they chased drove into the forest, and finally they found the car again and made the arrest. “One of the car drivers took off, but the officers arrested the other driver. One of the officers opened fire in the direction of the driver’s wife, hit her and she died on the spot,” the commissioner reported based on eyewitnesses report. To the observers of human rights groups, this action constitutes “a severe violation of the citizen’s rights.” “We want to know under which circumstances, the police officer made use of his weapons. Even though he is a police officer, he is now a criminal, and he must be arrested,” said Chan Saveth, an investigator of the Adhoc NGO.

Woman shot dead by military police during resin bust

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Cambodian Press Review

Military police working for an environmental group shot dead a young woman suspected of smuggling M’reah Prov oil in Pursat province on March 4, though there are conflicting accounts as to how she died, newspapers report.

According to witnesses, at around 11pm in a forest in Pursat province’s Kravanh district, police officials working for the environmental group Conservation International (CI) surrounded a car suspected of being engaged in M’reah Prov trafficking. Seeing the police activity, Pich Srey Mom was opening the door when she was shot in the right temple, while her husband, Bun Vannak, was handcuffed, reports Kampuchea Thmey.

Deputy Provincial Military Police Chief Var Vuthy said that an officer accidentally shot the 27-year-old woman as the two were trying to escape, according to The Cambodia Daily.

M’reah Prov oil is a resin illegally tapped from trees in Cambodia ’s densely forested northwestern region; it produces safrole, which can be used as a precursor chemical in the manufacture of MDMA, a key ingredient of ecstasy. The tree, from which the stump and roots are boiled to extract oil, is in serious danger of vanishing from Cambodia due to the illicit trade, note archives.

Provincial Police Chief Hem Vuthea claims that when Pich Srey Mom attempted to stop the military police from beating her husband, and that one of them shot her in the head with his AK-47 rifle, reports The Cambodia Daily.

While Ouk Kimsan, Central Cardamom Protected Forest program manager for the Forestry Administration, said that the military police had received a tip-off that two cars were smuggling the oil in the area. At 11pm the cars attempted to break through a line of ranger motorbikes and so were fired upon, as one of the speeding cars knocked an officer of his bike he accidentally fired a shot, which killed Pich Srey Mom, he said.

According to an unnamed source, the man who shot the woman is named King Chamroeun, and has now fled. He added that during the operation, the CI group consisted of eight members, and that the military police beat the victim’s husband severely on his arrest. According to witnesses, the CI officers fired at least forty rounds at the cars, but after the incident only six shells were found, reports Rasmei Kampuchea.

The woman’s relatives have called on the authorities to arrest the man responsible for the shooting, while Pursat residents and many NGOs have condemned the government and in particular CI over the incident, writes Kampuchea Thmey.