Police in region to discuss war against drugs – Khmer Times

Senior anti-drug police officers from Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand will host a meeting on measures to fight the scourge and strengthening cooperation earlier next month in Vietnam.

Anti-Drug Department Chief Lieutenant General Khoeung Sarath said Vietnamese police called for the four-day meeting on October 5 in Ho Chi Minh City.

Lt Gen Sarath said that five senior Cambodian police officials will attend the meeting and expect that it will strengthen cooperation to crack down on drug trafficking along the borders, especially the corridors of neighbouring borders.

The main purpose of the meeting is to discuss drug issues along the common borders of Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand.

The meeting will seek to have better cooperation to crack down on the drug trafficking along the borders, said Lt Gen Sarath.

We must tighten controls and closely monitor all border crossing points, international checkpoints, and international airports in order to combat the import and export of drugs into each nation to the greatest extent possible, he said.

According to Lt Gen Sarath, Cambodia is merely a victim nation where drugs are smuggled and moved to other nations.

He said that most of the drugs, which had been trafficked in Cambodia, were imported from the Golden Triangle in Myanmar or Laos or Thailand.

The majority of drugs trafficked into Cambodia and seized by Cambodian officials were brought in via smuggling routes along the borders with neighbouring countries, he said.

We expect that if we can cooperate with our neighbouring countries to strengthen monitoring of all the border corridors, international border checkpoints, including the land, seas, air and at international airports, we will be able to combat or reduce drug trafficking in Cambodia, Lt Gen Sarath said.

He said that so far, Cambodian authorities have had good connection and cooperation with foreign police.

Lt Gen Sarath said after a tip-off from the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and Brazilian federal officials, Cambodian police arrested a Bolivian woman named Karen Cecia Lopez Vaca, 36, and seized 4,356 grammes of cocaine from her at the Phnom Penh International Airport.

On September 10, Prime Minister Hun Manet expressed the governments commitment to ending drug abuse, which is creating greater issues for the populace and society as more and more narcotics have entered Cambodia in recent years.

The Prime Minister also declared that drugs are a chronic and pervasive problem in Cambodia, regionally and globally.

He said that the new government will do its best to reduce and eliminate drugs in Cambodia.

Mr Hun Manet also issued a sub-decree for the National Authority for Combatting Drugs to expand the scope of the war against drugs in Cambodia.

According to the sub-decree, the anti-drug affairs committee will be led by a deputy prime minister as Chief of Committee, followed by three other deputy prime ministers from the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of National Defence, and the Ministry of Justice as Deputy Chiefs of Committee, and there is a Senior Minister as Permanent Deputy Chief of Committee.

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Police in region to discuss war against drugs - Khmer Times