From September 22 to October 3, police in Cambodia's Preah Sihanouk province, together with the anti-drug department, the maritime crime crackdown unit and the gendarmerie, launched a special operation against cross-border drug trafficking and illegal arms trade, detaining a total of nine Chinese suspects.
On September 22, police conducted an operation in the waters around Bamboo Island near Kampong Som city, detaining two Chinese suspects on the spot and seizing drugs and weapons. During the operation, the suspects threw a large quantity of narcotics into the sea; the exact amount remains unclear. Police later arrested five accomplices on a nearby beach.
On September 23, local fishermen spotted three large floating yellow packages at sea and suspected they were linked to the drugs thrown overboard earlier. After hauling the packages ashore, the fishermen found granular and block-shaped substances believed to be narcotics inside and promptly reported the matter to the police. On September 24, the items were handed over to the police for safekeeping and processed in accordance with the law.
On September 25, police arrested another suspect at a house in Sangkat 4 of Sihanoukville city. The task force then joined the anti-drug department and Phnom Penh police to investigate the related premises, but no significant items were found.
On October 3, police arrested the final remaining suspect near the "Double Lions" traffic circle in Sihanoukville city. With that, all nine Chinese suspects named in the operation had been detained.
The nine suspects and the related evidence and items have been handed over to the relevant authorities for processing in accordance with the law, and the case will now proceed through the subsequent legal procedures.
