Cambodian police seize largest ever cocaine
Updated: 2012-08-15 18:10
(Xinhua)
|
|||||||||||
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.
Related Stories
More women aid drug-smuggling boyfriends 2012-08-13 23:55
Spain seizes members of major Mexican drug cartel 2012-08-11 09:35
Today's Top News
President Xi confident in recovery from quake
H7N9 update: 104 cases, 21 deaths
Telecom workers restore links
Coal mine blast kills 18 in Jilin
Intl scholarship puts China on the map
More bird flu patients discharged
Gold loses sheen, but still a safe bet
US 'turns blind eye to human rights'
Hot Topics
Lunar probe , China growth forecasts, Emission rules get tougher, China seen through 'colored lens', International board,
Editor's Picks
All-out efforts to save lives |
Liaoning: China's oceangoing giant |
Poultry industry under pressure |
'Spring' in the air for NGOs? |
Boy set to drive Chinese golf |
Latest technology gets people talking |