Moek Dara, Chea Leng corruption case hits Court of Appeal

Tuesday, 04 September 2012
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
The Phnom Penh Post

The Naga casino boat drug bust at the centre of the corruption convictions of disgraced anti-drugs czar Moek Dara and his one-time deputy Chea Leng hit the Court of Appeal yesterday, with the busted convicts in the Naga boat case blaming each other and accomplices for the crimes.

In 2008, Leng led a team of undercover cops to crack down on the Naga casino ship in Phnom Penh’s Chamkarmorn district.

Lim Hay, 36, and Suth Romanea, 33, who were in court yesterday, were busted for trafficking heroin that Leng is now convicted of siphoning off and selling in a separate case.

Hay and Romanea were sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined 25 million riel [about US$6250] for intent to traffic two kilograms of heroin.

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.

Police, FBI Bust Seven in Major Drug Raid

Chhay Sinarith shows the seized heroin packages and other paraphernalia (Photo: Bunry, Koh Santepheap)

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
06 October 2009

Cambodian police working with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested seven people and seized 16 kilograms of heroin, following three months of investigation, officials said Monday. Police also found counterfeit US dollars in the Oct. 2 raid.

“In the operation, we did an investigation and tracked [the suspects] down for almost three months, with the support of the FBI representative in Cambodia,” said Chhay Sinarith, chief of the Interior Ministry’s security department.

Suspects were arrested in Phnom Penh and Stung Treng province. The raid included the arrest of Lam Sokha, a suspected trafficker who has been arrested and released in recent years, police and court officials said.

The seven suspects were sent to Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday and would be questioned by prosecutors this week, officials said.

Police said the heroin moved through neighboring countries through Stung Treng, which borders Laos.

The discovery of heroin, crystal methamphetamine, or “ice,” drug production and counterfeit money made the raid a major case, Chhay Sinarith said.

The US State Department praised Cambodia for its anti-drug efforts in 2009, but said the country faces increasing problems of consumption, trafficking and the production of dangerous drugs.

The State Department warned that crackdowns on trafficking in Thailand and China had made Cambodia an attractive route for traffickers, while internally, use of amphetamines, including ice, was escalating.

Second Policeman Dies After Drug Bust

By Mean Veasna, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh
24 April 2008

"Experts have said Cambodia is now becoming a source of drug manufacturing, not just a transit point, as it had been in the past"

One policeman who was in critical condition following a drug bust shootout Tuesday died of his wounds Wednesday, officials said.

Sgt. Sreng Bunnareth, 37, a member of the municipal anti-drug police since 1996, died from wounds he received in the arrest of a drug trafficking suspect, officials said.

“He was one of the very active policemen and nearly always present in operations,” said Touch Muy Soir, chief of the anti-drug unit.

“In the operation we had four wounded, as well as a policeman killed,” he said. “A second died on the 23rd because of a very critical injury.”

“We are now seeking the leader of the group of traffickers,” he added. “We already have a lead.”

Police arrest trafficking suspect Keb Samon, 27, on Tuesday, but only after he was able to pull a gun and shoot at the arresting officers.

Keb Samon had already been handcuffed, hands in front, when he pulled a gun and fired at police. Officer Chhoeung Vireak, 36, died immediately from gunshot wounds.

Following the arrest, police confiscated a supply of crystal methamphetamine, and Touch Muy Soir said the suspect was part of an important group involved in drug trafficking in the capital.

Experts have said Cambodia is now becoming a source of drug manufacturing, not just a transit point, as it had been in the past.

Chea Chung, Nhiek Bun Chhay's former adviser, sentenced to 25-year jail and 100 million riels fine in drug lab bust

The accused were brought to court, among those was Chea Chung, Nhiek Bun Chhay's former adviser, who was sentenced to 25-year jail and fined 100 million riels (~$25,000) (Photo: Bunnak, Koh Santepheap)

Foreigners get 120 yrs jail in Cambodia drugs bust

Jan 11, 2008
AFP

PHNOM PENH - FOUR Chinese nationals and a Thai man arrested last year in Cambodia's largest-ever drugs bust have been jailed for a combined total of 120 years, a court official said on Friday.

The five were among 21 people seized in April, during a police raid on a massive drugs laboratory located on a plantation 50 kilometres from the capital Phnom Penh.

Police discovered two tonnes of chemicals used in the production of 'yaba', a cheap and potent methamphetamine widely used throughout Southeast Asia.

Another tonne of drug-making chemicals was later found in Phnom Penh.

The Thai, along with three Chinese men, were sentenced on Thursday to 25 years each, Judge Iv Kimsry said, adding that a Chinese woman was jailed for 20 years.

A sixth suspect who has fled to Thailand was jailed in absentia for life, he said.

'The court found them guilty for involvement in illegal drug production,' the Judge said. 'It's the largest drug trial ever seen in Cambodia.'

Fourteen Cambodians also arrested at the scene were acquitted after the court determined that they had been tricked into thinking they were employed to spray chemicals on farmland, Judge Iv Kimsry said.

April's bust was the first evidence of large-scale drugs production in Cambodia, which is an increasingly popular trafficking point for narcotics after neighbouring Thailand toughened its stance on illegal drugs in 2002.

$35 million ice shipment from Cambodia seized in Sydney

$35 million Sydney ice bust

December 20, 2007
Paul Bibby
The Sydney Morning Herald

One man was arrested in a federal police operation in south-west Sydney last night over the importation of an $35 million ice shipment from Cambodia.

The man was charged with importing 105kg of ephedrine, a substance used to make crystal methylamphetamine.

He was arrested during a police operation at a residential address in Greenacre last night.

The 23-year-old man has appeared in Sydney Central Local Court today and faces a maximum penalty of two years in jail or a $44,000 fine.

An Australian Federal Police spokeswoman said the ephedrine was packed into 122 coffee sample bags in three containers.

"The drugs were discovered by customs officials when checking air cargo at Mascot earlier this week" she said.

Heng Samrin: My advisor, the oknha, only transported the raw material to produce methamphetamine ... he is not deeply involved in the case -sic!-

Oum Chhay (L) is an advisor to Heng Samrin (R) (Photo: Sralanh Khmer newspaper)

Heng Samrin’s advisor arrested in drug-lab case

Friday, August 17, 2007
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

An oknha (rich businessman who purchased this honorific title for $100,000) who is the advisor of Heng Samrin, the president of the National Assembly, was arrested by the Banteay Meanchey provincial police on 15 August, at the Poipet international border gate. He is accused of being involved in a drug case. The Cambodia Daily quoted Khieu Sopheak, spokesman of the Ministry of Interior, saying that Oknha Oum Chhay, president of the Chhay Chhay Investment, and president of the Banteay Meanchey chamber of commerce, was arrested on Wednesday afternoon for helping the transportation of raw chemical material to produce methamphetamine drug in Kompong Speu province. Heng Samrin confirmed to The Cambodia Daily that indeed Oum Chhay is one of his advisors. However, Heng Samrin downplayed the arrest, saying that Oum Chhay has only a minor role in the (Kompong Speu) drug-lab. Heng Samrin said that Oum Chhay is only held for questioning and that he is not deeply involved in the case. A major drug lab located in Treng Troyoeung commune, Phnom Sruoch district, Kompong Speu province was raided by the authority last 01 April.

Two Cambodian drug mules nabbed in Thailand for transporting Meth pills in shoes

Million Baht Shoes; Nab Two Khmers With 1,000,000 Baht Of Yah Bah in Sandals

August 14, 2007
Pattaya Daily News (Thailand)

Pattaya investigators arrested two Khmers, who had more than 6,000 Yah bah (amphetamine) tablets in their sandals to sell to customers in Pattaya. The illicit drugs were probably valued at more than one million baht

On 13 August 2007, at 4:30 PM, Police Colonel Suthin Sabphueng, Pattaya Superintendent and Police Major Chaigrit Thong-Inn, an investigator and a team of police officers arrested a yah bah dealer. Further investigation resulted in the information that the dealers bought the yah bah from a big agency which delivered the drugs to Pattaya.

Police forced the dealer to order 300,000 baht worth of yah bah to be delivered to Pattaya. The appointed place for the yah bah delivery was in the vicinity of the pedestrian crossing bridge on Sukhumvit Rd., in front of Soi Bhothisarn, opposite Wat Nongyai, Banglamung, Chonburi. The police team staked out the area and waited for the drug couriers.

At the appointed time, the police spotted two suspects, who came by bus, on the Chonburi-Rayong route. They immediately arrested the two suspects, who were identified as Mr. Jae Wern (24) and Mr. La Jen (18). Both were Khmers. Police could not find anything on their bodies. However, the police were suspicious of the unusual thickness of their sandals. When they opened the bottoms of the sandals, the police found six bags of yah bah, totaling 6400 tablets. The bags were very well packed to prevent crushing.

Jae Wern and La Jen confessed that they were hired for 2,000 baht by a Thai and Khmer agency from Prajeenburi Province to deliver yah bah to customers in Pattaya. The agency modified their shoes to hide the yah bah so they could deliver it to customers, undetected by the authorities. They took the bus from Kabinburi and connected to the Chonburi-Rayong bus to make the delivery.

Police Major Chaigrit Thong-Inn said that, earlier, they had arrested Mr. Ake, a teenager in Pattaya, for drug dealing. He was caught with thirty yah bah tablets. They extended the investigation by having Mr. Ake order yah bah to be delivered to Soi Bhothisarn so they could nab the two Khmers who were the drug couriers. The drugs were ordered from Cambodia by Thai and Khmer Agency who were big-time drug dealers. The drugs were distributed to smaller dealers on a regular basis. The drugs seized, in this operation, were worth more than one million baht. Police will further interrogate Mr. Jae Wern and Mr. La Jen to widen the investigation and arrest more drug dealers, as well.

Drug bust in the middle of the capital

Friday, August 3, 2007
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

A drug lab located in Phnom Penh city was busted by the military police which also arrested one of the drug ring leader, and confiscated a drug production machine, and $100,000 fake money. According to local newspapers, the bust took place at 4:40 AM on 01 August near the Holiday club, located on Street No. 65, Srah Chak commune, Daun Penh district. The bust also led to the arrest of Lam Sokheng, a 31-year-old male. Following his arrest, the authority also searched 2 other locations: one in Tuol Kork district, and the other in Dangkao district. A car, a handgun, 9 bullets, 870 yama (amphetamine) pills, a number of white powder drug substance, a machine to manufacture the yama drug, as well as $95,000 in fake money were confiscated by the police. Based on the questioning of Lam Sokheng, the latter indicated that he and his gang are trading drugs since 2005, and the modern machine to manufacture yama was recently imported from overseas about 1 month ago only.

Authority searching to arrest those involved in drug production

24 June 2007
By Phan Sophat
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

A Cambodian official said that the authority is continuing its search to arrest a number of people who are involved in a plan to conduct a large drug production in Kompong Speu province which was recently uncovered.

An anonymous high-ranking official told RFA that the file for the drug case in Kompong Speu province is not complete yet, and that those involved are high-ranking government officials.

On Friday, the Phnom Penh municipal court issued an arrest warrant for another general who is accused of drug involvement in Kompong Speu province.

Chum Tong Heng, a 2-star general working at the RCAF headquarters, was arrested by the court and is temporarily jailed in Prey Sar prison for collusion in drug trafficking.

Phnom Penh municipal court cannot be contacted to obtain information about the charge leveled against the general. However, local newspapers indicated today that Chum Tong Heng denied the charges leveled against him by the municipal court.

General Luor Ramin, the secretary-general of the anti-drug trafficking authority, told RFA that the arrest of General Chum Tong Heng is indeed because of his involvement in the drug production in Kompong Speu province.

Luor Ramin said: “The current case is an extension of the Kompong speu case, however, regarding the charge, the investigating judge is the one who knows about it because he has the case file in his hands.”

At the beginning of April, the Cambodian authority raided a large drug production plant in Treng Troyeung commune, Phnom Sruoch district, Kompong Speu province, and it seized about 6 tons of raw ingredients for drug production.

During the police raid, several people was arrested including both Cambodian laborers and foreigners, however, at that time, the authority said that it did not find all the major ringleaders in this drug production yet.

Gen. Chum Tong Heng arrested on drug charges: a case of CPP bad blood settlement?

Maj. Gen. Chum Tong Heng, deputy cabinet chief for the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces high command, was arrested Thursday evening in Phnom Penh on charges related to a raid on a production facility for methamphetamines similar to these, destroyed in Thailand last year.

High Command Staff General Arrested on Drug Charges

Heng Reaksmey & Sok Khemara
VOA Khmer
Orginal report from Washington
22/06/2007

Click here to listen Q&A with Heng Reaksmey & Sok Khemara in Khmer
(Real Media Player required)

Maj. Gen. Chum Tong Heng, deputy cabinet chief for the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces high command, was arrested Thursday evening in Phnom Penh on charges related to a raid on a production facility for methamphetamines similar to these, destroyed in Thailand last year.

A high-ranking general was detained Thursday and appeared in municipal court Friday on charges related to an April 1 drug bust in Kampong Speu, officials said.

Maj. Gen. Chum Tong Heng, deputy cabinet chief for the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces high command, was arrested Thursday evening in Phnom Penh, according to officials from the courts, police and military.

Chum Tong Heng was being held at Prey Sar prison Friday, after appearing in Phnom Penh Municipal Court, which is civilian. He is being held pending an investigation, but police and court officials declined to give further information.

The April 1 drug raid, one of the largest on record, netted 18 suspects, including 14 Cambodians, and three tons of methamphetamine-production material. Most of the Cambodians have been released because they were only workers at a production facility, officials said.

Chum Tong Heng works under the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces commander-in-chief, Gen. Ke Kim Yan, a member of the ruling Cambodian People's Party. Chiv Keng, head of Phnom Penh Municipal Court declined to give case details.

"I have already told you that I cannot answer you yet," he told VOA Khmer by phone. "I will let [investigators] proceed first. If I reveal [facts] now, the investigation will not be important. Do you know that the case is a big criminal case and complicated. The case cannot be revealed so you will broadcast it on radio while the investigation is going in such a complicated case."

RCAF Cabinet Director Lt. Gen. Thou Sun, who is Chum Tong Heng's direct supervisor, declined to comment, saying only, "I don't know yet what is going on."

Hong Kong authority seized 196 kilos of cannabis suspected of being smuggled in from Cambodia

Fight crime: Police seized 195 kilograms of suspected Cannabis worth about $10.1 million in the retail market.

June 2, 2007
Man arrested for drug trafficking

news.gov.hk (Hong Kong)

Police have arrested a 36-year-old man for trafficking in dangerous drugs following the seizure of 195 kilograms of suspected Cannabis worth about $10.1 million in the retail market.

Police Narcotics Bureau officers arrested the man at 2 Tat Wan Road in Tai Po at about 5pm yesterday. He was brought back to a stone hut adjacent to 18A Sun Uk Ka Tsuen in Sheung Wun Yiu where a total of 195 slabs of vacuum-packed cannabis herbs weighing about 1kg each were found in the hut.

Police believe they have shut down a major drug syndicate which shipped cannabis into Hong Kong from Cambodia to meet the local market demand.

The man will be charged with two counts of trafficking in dangerous drugs and will appear in Fanling Magistrates' Courts on Monday.

Nhiek Bun Chhay again denies involvement in drug production

Funcinpec Official Denies Involvement in Drug Production

Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
10/05/2007

Nhiek Bun Chhay, secretary-general of the beleaguered Funcinpec party, denied involvement in drug production Thursday, after authorities said a drug bust in April took place on his land.

The high-ranking member of Cambodia's coalition party said a raid that netted 14 suspects and 4 tons of drug-making chemicals in a Kampong Speu production facility in April was not on his land.

Officials Seek Help in Destroying Drugs

Mean Veasna, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
11/04/2007

Cambodian drug authorities have sought help from other countries to destroy the 3 tons of drug-making materials confiscated April 1.

"We need the experts who know about the formulas… and who had faced drug issues before," Mean Virith, director of the Ministry of Interior's anti-drug office, said Wednesday.

Chemical experts from the UN and Bangkok are expected to arrive in Cambodia this week, and Interior Minister Sar Kheng has met with Thai officials over destroying the drugs, officials said.

Authorities confiscated the drugs in a series of raids in Kampong Speu province, netting 18 suspects that included 14 Cambodians.

US Helped After Big Drug Bust, Cambodian Police Say

Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
09/04/2007

Cambodian police officials told VOA Monday they had help from US authorities after an April 1 drug bust that netted 18 suspects and 3 tons of drug-making materials.

Brig. Gen. Mek Dara, chief of the anti-drug office for the Interior Ministry, said the US Drug Enforcement Agency helped identify the substances confiscated in the raids.

Cambodian police found 12 different chemicals for the production of methamphetamine in operations on the day of local elections, April 1, he said.

Cambodia's relationship with US officials has improved markedly in recent months. Most recently, National Police Chief Gen. Hok Lundy was invited to Washington for international crime discussions.

Airport Bust Nets Two Suspected Drug Smugglers

Mony, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh
06/04/2007

Cambodian authorities Friday arrested two Malaysian nationals carrying bags of heroin strapped to their thighs.

"This time, it is not very much," Chhouk Kim Ny, chief of airport police said. "Previously, each person would carry nearly 2 kilograms. This time each person carried only 1 kilogram on both thighs."

The arrests follow a similar bust in February, when a Taiwanese man was arrested with 265 grams of heroine stashed in condom and a large bust during Sunday's elections that brought in 18 suspects and 3 tons of drugs and drug-making material.

Drug Location Seriously Contaminates Cow Farm in Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, April 5 (Xinhua) -- A cow farm where the police uncovered a drug lab on Sunday in Kompong Speu province has been seriously contaminated with unidentified chemicals, according to local media on Thursday.

At least one ton of the poisonous chemicals permeated the soil around the farm, polluting the water and the plants or even possibly leading to health problems for the local residents, the Commercial Daily quoted drug police as saying.

The local authority has ordered the people living around the farm to evacuate, set danger marks for the area and will slaughter the 108 cows raised there, the newspaper said.

The Cambodian government currently possesses none of the technology and experts to handle such a situation as the soil there to be purified and the three tons of chemicals confiscated from the lab and another drug site in Phnom Penh to be stockpiled safely, said the newspaper.

The government also called for the international community to cooperate with Cambodia in an attempt to solve the problem, it added.

On Sunday, 18 suspects and three tons of chemicals for producing amphetamine-type drugs were seized during Cambodia's largest ever drug bust respectively carried out in Phnom Penh and Kompong Speu.

In 2005, Cambodia cracked 346 drug-related cases, arrested almost 400 drug traffickers and seized 330,000 ecstasy pills.

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.

Nhiek Bun Chhay, Hun Sen's choice for government partner, denies link with drug case

April 04, 2007
Cambodian deputy PM denies link with drug case

Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Nhiek Bun Chay on Tuesday denied that he had any connection with the drug ring that was busted by the police on Sunday.

Ring leader "Chea Cheung was my personal adviser while I worked as co-minister of national defense. But after I stopped being co-minister of national defense, Chea was fired from the position," said Nhiek Bun Chay, also secretary general of the co-ruling Funcinpec Party, in a statement.

The 20-hectare land in Kompong Speu province, where the ring's laboratory and production site were located, "was not my property, either," he said, while mentioning local media reports that alleged he had the ownership of the land.

On Sunday respectively in Phnom Penh and Kompong Speu, the police arrested 14 Cambodians, three Chinese and one Thai, together with three tons of chemicals for drug production, possibly the largest ever drug bust for the kingdom.

Chea Cheung, widely reported as leader of these suspects, is still at large.

Police source told Xinhua that the land in Kompong Sepu belonged to Chea Cheung, but he had given part of it to Nhiek Bun Chay as gift.

A number of senior government and military officials had been detained for investigation in relation with the case.

According to official reports, Cambodia saw more cross-country drug trafficking cases in the past years, as the regional Mekong River was repeatedly utilized as an important passage for such crimes.

Drug rings have been attempting to develop Cambodia into a transit point as well as production base of their products, the reports said.

In 2005, Cambodia cracked 346 drug-related cases, arrested almost 400 drug traffickers and seized 330,000 ecstasy pills.

Source: Xinhua

Drugs: Nhiek Bun Chhay’s advisor arrested

Tuesday, April 3, 2007
By Ung Chansophea
Cambodge Soir
Unofficial translation from French by Luc Sâr

Click here to read Cambodge Soir’s original article in French

A police operation ended with the seizure of two tons of raw materials for producing methamphetamines (yama), and the arrest of 18 people. Among those responsible for the drug trafficking and the production lab in Cambodia, the police arrested an advisor of Nhiek Bun Chhay.

A large operation conducted by the anti-drug police led to the arrest of 18 people – one of those arrested in an advisor to Nhiek Bun Chhay, the Vice-Prime Minister and Funcinpec Secretary-General – and the seizure of two tons of raw material for producing methamphetamines. This important operation took place Sunday on a property belonging to Chea Chung, an honorific advisor to Nhiek Bun Chhay, located in the commune of Treng Troyeung, Phnom Sruoch district, Kompong Speu province.

According to Kang Heang, the provincial governor, 18 people were arrested, including 3 Chinese citizens, one Thai citizen, and 14 Cambodian employees. Among the three Chinese citizens arrested was Chea Chung, a 2-star general and an advisor to Nhiek Bun Chhay, an anonymous source from the anti-drug police department claimed. “Before starting this operation, we investigated for more than a month because this type of material is hard to identify. We discreetly took sample of the products to perform tests which confirmed our doubts before searching the house. This is the first time that our province discovers such an important drug lab,” the governor said.

Phnom Penh police had also seized another ton of raw material in the capital, as part of this operation.

Nhiek Bun Chhay rejected any of his implication, even indirect one, in this affair. He explained that this Chea Chung was not a full advisor, but is merely a businessman who holds the honorific title of advisor. “He is not a personal advisor. He does not work in my offices, and he does not receive any salary. I only know that he owns his business,” he explained before saying that he gives full latitude to the police to resolve this affair.