PHNOM PENH, May 19 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian police confiscated about 50 kg of illicit drugs during a raid in Phnom Penh this week and arrested a prime suspect in northeastern Ratanakiri province, a senior police official said on Friday.
"In cooperation with the Anti-Drug Department forces, we arrested a 43-year-old man in a hotel in Ratanakiri province on Thursday for allegedly involving with the drugs seized in his house in Phnom Penh," Brigadier General Pen Dina, deputy police chief of Ratanakiri province, told Xinhua.
The suspect is identified as Sy Laloy, who is a Laotian-Cambodian, he said, adding that the man has been sent to the Interior Ministry's Anti-Drug Department in Phnom Penh for next legal procedures.
The seized drugs included heroin, crystal methamphetamine, and methamphetamine pills.
It was the second biggest drug-trafficking crackdown in the country within the last two years. In June 2015, the country arrested four suspects with nearly 55 kg of heroin and methamphetamine, which was worth about 3 million U.S. dollars.
The Southeast Asian nation launched a six-month anti-drug campaign on Jan. 1, 2017. According to an Interior Ministry report, the authorities had arrested 7,072 drug suspects in 3,115 cases during the first four months (January to April) of the campaign.
The country has no death sentence for drug traffickers. Under its law, a person trafficking more than 80 grams of illicit drug will be facing life imprisonment.
