REAKSMEY KONGKEA

Buth Reaksmey Kongkea Military police in Preah Vihear province yesterday arrested two men suspected of transporting more than 1,000 kilogrammes of methamphetamines (ice) from Laos into Cambodia. Lieutenant Colonel Duong Sarith, the Deputy Commander of Preah Vihear Provincial Military Police, told Khmer Times yesterday that the two suspects, one the driver and owner of the car previously seized by the authorities and the other his worker, were arrested on Monday in Chey Sen district located next to the Cambodia-Laos border.  Lt Col Sarith said that they were arrested following an earlier incident when the suspects abandoned the car near a forest and fled into the undergrowth to escape pursuing Military Police who had spotted the suspicious looking vehicle driving along the border at night on January 20. After searching the abandoned car, police found more than one tonne of ice. The suspects are believed to be the ringleaders of a drug gang and had been at large since fleein...

Buth Reaksmey Kongkea   The anti-drug police force emerged successful in yet another major crackdown conducted on January 20 midnight.   In the Monday midnight major drug overhaul, the police in the Anti-Drug Department of the Ministry of Interior, in coordination with Preah Sihanouk provincial anti-drug police and maritime police, seized more than 1.56 tonnes of narcotics off Sihanoukville from five suspects, comprising two Chinese, two Taiwanese and a Filipino.   Lieutenant General Khoeng Sarath, Chief of Anti-Drug Department in the Ministry of Interior, told a press conference yesterday that the arrests in Preah Sihanouk province were made at about 3 am on Monday midnight on two speedboats parked in the middle of the sea in the province’s Stung Hav district.   The another crackdown on Monday was carried out around the same time along the Laos border in Preah Vihear province and the anti-drug police nabbed three men involved in trafficking of 1,020 kilogram...

Buth Reaksmey Kongkea A physician who serves as the general director of a run-down polyclinic facility in the municipality was prosecuted by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court and placed under arrest for allegedly engaging in the kidneys and organs and defrauding 18 victims out of about $1 million. The guy was identified as Ngeth Samoun, the General Director of the Metro RLV Polyclinic, who resides in the Sen Sok area of Phnom Penh's O-Bek K'om commune, according to a court record dated January 25. Article 22 of the Law on the Management of Donation Transplantations of Cell Tissues and Human Organs charges the accused of "illegal organ trafficking (kidney transplant)" and Articles 377 and 378 of the Criminal Code charge the accused of "fraud." If found guilty, the accused may spend seven to fifteen years in prison. The victim claimed there was illegal organ and kidney trafficking as well as a fraudulent case at the Metro RLV Polyclinic in O-Bek K'om commune,...

Buth Reaksmey Kongkea   In the first appeal hearing that began yesterday, the Phnom Penh Appeal Court denied the request of Kem Sokha, the former CNRP leader under house arrest, to lift restrictions on visits from his family and friends, including foreigners.   The Judges Council of the Phnom Penh Appeal Court yesterday began the appeal hearing of the former opposition leader under tight security, on the charge of “conspiring with foreign power” to overthrow the elected government between 1993 and 2017.   The 70-year-old was sentenced by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on March 3 last year to 27 years in prison and also banned him from politics, following his arrest on September 3, 2017.     The judges’ council members comprised Presiding Judge Im Vannak, judges Khun Sona and Ly Sokleng and two deputy prosecutors, I'm Saphan and Hean Rith, while veteran lawyers Ang Udom and Meng Sopheary, represented as Sokha’s defense lawyers.    Lawyer ...

Buth Reaksmey Kongkea Former President of the Khmer Rise Party William Guang and four colleagues were sentenced   on January 29, 2024   by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court from four to six years each for a botched armed robbery in Kampong Speu province’s Kong Pisei district in 2021. This is the second case of armed robbery by Guang and his gang. In the first case, the group was sentenced in 2022 by the municipal court from six to nine years each for robbing online vendor An Siev Mey in Phnom Penh earlier in 2022. The sentences will be served consecutively. In yesterday’s court case, the five accused were Sok Sovann Vathana Sabung alias William Guang, 44, the former President of Khmer Rise Party (KRP); Or Ramorn, 33, the former driver of William Guang; Sovann Ranuth, 26, the former personal assistant of Guang; and Keth March, 26, former account of the KRP. Presiding Judge Chhun Davy stated that the accused William Guang was sentenced by the court to six years while Ramorn...

Buth Reaksmey Kongkea The Phnom Penh Municipal Court arrested and charged yesterday the former famous singer and film star Keo Pisey for allegedly breaching trust and issuing a dud cheque worth nearly $20,000 last year. The former celebrity was charged on two counts of “Breach of Trust and Issuing Dud Cheque” under Article 391 and 392 of the Criminal Code and under Article 231 of the Law on Negotiable Instrument and Payment Transactions, according to the court’s arrest warrant issued by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court’s prosecutor. Pisey, 27, also known as Ratanak Pisey, is the owner of the Eli KP Trading company and resides in Sen Sok district’s Khmuonh district in the capital. If convicted, she faces between one to five years in prison. Lieutenant Colonel Sim Saveth, the deputy chief of the penal office in the Ministry of Interior, told Khmer Times yesterday that after Pisey’s arrest, she was sent by penal police from the Ministry of Interior to the Phnom Penh Municipal Cou...

  Buth Reaksmey Kongkea   In a remote area of a village in the Ang Snoul district of Kandal province, a five-month pregnant woman was killed by having her throat slashed and burned alive. Police are now hunting for the suspects.  Veng Thavry, a 26-year-old former garment factory worker who resides in Rumlech village, Tuol Pich commune, Kandal province, was identified as the victim by Major Nuon Chamroeun, the Deputy Chief of Tuol Pich commune police. According to Maj Chamroeun, the victim's husband claimed that on January 16, the victim received a call from a suspected debtor who wanted to meet with her in the village to collect the debt.  He said that the victim's spouse had driven her to an arranged location in Rumlech village on his motorcycle.  He claimed that after they got to the appointment location, the wife told the husband to drop her off there and he was told to wait for her in a local coffee shop.  The husband then drove his motorb...

  Buth Reaksmey Kongkea Military police in Preah Vihear province yesterday arrested two men suspected of transporting more than 1,000 kilogrammes of methamphetamines (ice) from Laos into Cambodia. Lieutenant Colonel Duong Sarith, the Deputy Commander of Preah Vihear Provincial Military Police, told Khmer Times yesterday that the two suspects, one the driver and owner of the car previously seized by the authorities and the other his worker, were arrested on Monday in Chey Sen district located next to the Cambodia-Laos border.  Lt Col Sarith said that they were arrested following an earlier incident when the suspects abandoned the car near a forest and fled into the undergrowth to escape pursuing Military Police who had spotted the suspicious looking vehicle driving along the border at night on January 20. After searching the abandoned car, police found more than one tonne of ice. The suspects are believed to be the ringleaders of a drug gang and had been at large since...

Buth Reaksmey Kongkea   Deputy Commissioner of Police has been arrested and jailed after he allegedly forged documents in a false claiming in order to bigamously marry a second woman. The  Brigadier General Ngam Ry, the Deputy Chief of Kampong Speu Provincial Police was arrested on January 20.  According to information from Kaheng commune officials, Mr. Ry applied for a marriage certificate in the name of “Khuth Vathana”, living in Khnar village, Prek Leap commune, Muk Kampoul district, Kandal province. However, Mr Ngam is apparently already married, in his correct name and – although separated from his first wife – he is not actually divorced. On the afternoon of January 18, 2024, the wife of Brigadier General Ry filed a formal complaint to prevent the wedding to a new bride. Mr Ry was therefore arrested yesterday by Provincial Police.  

 Buth Reaksmey Kongkea  The Prime Minister of Cambodia, Hun Manet, has issued a sub-decree to revoke the rank of colonel from Colonel Sok Sopheap, Colonel Sok Sopheap. No. 64435, is a senior police officer of the Cambodian National Police within the Ministry of Interior and had the role of the Deputy Chief of  Preah Sihanouk Province.  

Buth Reaksmey Kongkea The Phnom Penh Municipal Court sentenced four suspected drug traffickers yesterday from 30 years to life in prison for allegedly possessing and trafficking nearly four kilogrammes of ecstasy and ice in 2022. Presiding Judge Thorn Porhiek identified the four suspects as Nuth Keosara, 23, Pon Bunneang also known as Pek, 36, Pen Saochum, 31, and Sok Youphou, 27. Judge Porhiek stated that Keosara, who is the mastermind of the drug trafficking ring and the owner of the seized drugs, was sentenced to life in prison and fined 40 million Riels ($10,000) while Bunneang, Saochum and Youphou were sentenced to 30 years and fined 30 million Riels ($7,500) each. He added that they were charged with “drug possession, transport and trafficking” under Article 40 of the Law on Drugs Control. The four were arrested at different locations on October 19 and 21, 2022 in Chamkarmon and Dangkor districts in Phnom Penh, he said. The first arrested was Bunneang at about 10....

Buth Reaksmey Kongkea The justice ministries of Cambodia and Belgium are negotiating to prepare a transfer treaty in order to repatriate a Belgian man convicted of trafficking cocaine in Cambodia to prison in his home country. He will be transferred from Cambodia later this year.  Chin Malin, Secretary of State and the Spokesman at the Ministry of Interior, told Khmer Times yesterday that Cambodia received a request from the Belgian Minister of Justice asking to transfer a Belgian citizen named Tanguy Eddie J. Taller to prison in Belgium. Malin said that up to now Cambodia and Belgium do not yet have any formal prisoner exchange treaties with each other to transfer suspects or convicts. However, he added both countries are negotiating and preparing to sign an exchange treaty aiming to transfer convicts between both countries in the future. “As a principle of law, in order to transfer or extradite any suspect or convict from Cambodia to other countries if it is requested...