PHNOM PENH: The Ministry of Interior, Sar Kheng, has blamed a lack of cooperation between drug officials and the ministry responsible for giving licenses, for the recent seizure of over 100 tons of drug making ingredients from to drug traffickers.

Deputy Prime Minister Sar Kheng expressed his concern for the health of the people, the social order, economy and the image of the country due to this negligence. He urged to one particular minister responsible for providing import licenses, as well as drug authorities, to work together to determine the substances that can be used to produce drugs and to more closely monitor the use of such substances.

He stated that Cambodia is a single state, so all state units must cooperate because all work is for the nation, and for the people. He stressed that the Ministry must be very careful when issuing licenses because otherwise they will be in debt to the Cambodian people in connection to the destruction of public health that comes with the illegal circulation of drugs.

He said, "The Ministry that issues these licenses, please check on that! Otherwise, you owe the Cambodian people in connection with the destruction of public health. […] Drug authorities need to strengthen the forensic examination. What substances can be used to make drugs, please make a list! Then, the drug authorities should send the list to all relevant ministries to let them know. Once the list is obtained, before giving the license to any company in the country or abroad, it must be copied to the relevant authorities to monitor. No matter where the traffic (drug materials) goes, [we must also note] what is the purpose! To make fertilizer? Or to do something that serves the Cambodian socioeconomic needs? It needs to be made clear, we currently lack this point and we cannot underestimate it anymore."

It is not exactly clear which minister that Deputy Prime Minister Sar Kheng was referring to when he placed the blame for the oversight that allowed traffickers to abuse their import licenses and bring large quantities of drug ingredients into the country. The Secretary General of the National Authority for Combating Drugs, Meas Virith, told EAC News that more than 100 tons of suspected drugs ingredients were seized last weekend at a warehouse in Kombal district, Phnom Penh, however, he was not able to confirm any more details.

He added that this problem was caused by the lack of mechanisms in place to check and monitor substances that are not defined by law. He said in the past authorities used the old mechanisms to only check for those chemicals and materials which have been specified in the law, and for this reason, the National Authority is currently in the process of reviewing a new mechanism to respond to the current situation, especially since new types of chemicals are now used to make drugs.

Secretary General Meas Virith said, "Previously, we monitored only chemicals that are regulated by the law. Nowadays, the chemicals that are regulated by the law are no longer used by drug criminals, they use other chemicals to be converted into drugs. So other chemicals that are not in the law can be shipped freely with a permit if we do not have a proper monitoring mechanism."

He further stated that the National Authority is currently training the relevant departments to examine chemicals that can be used as drugs, and is also preparing a sub-decree on the mechanism to prevent and examine chemicals that can be used in combination to make drugs.

In 2021, the Cambodian authorities cracked down on more than 6,000 drug cases, arrested more than 13,700 people and confiscated more than 4.5 tons of drugs. Compared to 2020, the number of cases and the arrest of people had decreased, but the amount of drugs seized increased by more than 1.5 tons.