Police rearrested drug kingpin ‘freed’ by armed gang in Siem Reap province


Buth Reaksmey Kongkea

In a major development, the Cambodian police have rearrested a Chinese drug kingpin who managed to escape from a dental clinic with the help of a group of armed criminals in Siem Reap. 

The police of the Anti-Drug Police Department at the Ministry of Interior nabbed the Chinese convict and two others on Tuesday taking the total number of arrests made in this case so far to 11. Four others involved in the ambush are still on the run.




General Mak Chito, Deputy Chief of the National Police in Charge of the Chief of Anti-Drug Affairs, confirmed the arrest of the Chinese drug kingpin at a press conference held yesterday. All the arrested suspects and the Chinese convict were sent to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court for questioning and further proceedings.

Gen. Chito added that they are a well-organised criminal group from the United States, and Hsin Han, an international drug trafficker, is the ringleader. He said that the 11 suspects included seven Cambodian-Americans, one Chinese-American, Taiwanese, Chinese and a Saudi national. 


Gen. Chito named the Chinese drug convict as Chen Hsin Han; and Cambodian American nationals as Phev Braseth Seth, In Chanthy, Savy Savuth, Som David, Rem Sophal, Frost Sarath Sean; Sim Soeun alias as “Clo”; Alshammari Sarah Hamad, Saudi Arabian national Taiwanese Chen Yuen Sheng; and Chloe Yinrong, a Chinese-American woman. 

Disclosing the details of the arrest, Gen Chito said that the seven suspects – Braseth Seth, Chanthy, Savuth, David, Sophal, Sarath Sean, Clo and Yinrong – were arrested on August 18 in Toul Kork district while Hamad, Sheng, and Chen Hsin were arrested in Chroy Changvar district’s Prek Leap commune on Tuesday. 

“The Cambodian police have already busted the armed criminal group and arrested all of them, including the Chinese drug convict who was released by the mafia group,” Gen. Chito told the press conference yesterday.

The Deputy Chief of the National Police also told the media about the gang’s modus operandi to help the Chinese convict escape from the police custody while having treatment at the dental clinic in Siem Reap.


Cambodian-American Soeun was the mastermind of the gang operation. Chen Yuen handled the expenditure part while Yinrong managed to collect details about Chen Hsin’s visit to the clinic from the prison and also purchased guns from unidentified Cambodian police. Six suspects – Seth, Chanthy, Savuth, David, Sophal and Sarath Sean — stormed the clinic, handcuffed the prison police officers and freed the Chinese convict. Saudi national Hamad kept a watch on the road and guided them to escape with Chen Hsin.

The suspects who stormed the clinic fled to hide in Phnom Penh while Chen Hsin and others went to Cambodia-Thai-Laos border for a hiding,” Gen. Chito said, adding that they travelled back to Phnom Penh as they could not flee to neighbouring countries.

The Chinese convict now faces charges of “escape” under Article 560 and 561 of Cambodia’s Criminal Code in addition to previous charges.  The other 10 suspects are charged with “forming illegal armed groups, releasing a convict (from prison) (or armed robbery), unauthorised holding or possessing weapons, and money laundry”.

Gen. Chito also said that the Cambodian authorities have alerted neighbour nations and sought the help of Interpol to find the four suspects at large. Gen Chito identified them as Turkish men Tekin Firat, Yardimci Volko, Halil Mutlu and a Cambodian woman named Prak Chamroeun alias Blue, wife of Clo. 



 

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