Cambodia News, (Phnom Penh): The Anti-Drug Department cracked down on a case of international cocaine smuggling from Brazil through Cambodia to Thailand, detaining two foreigners with more than 1.5 kilograms of drugs at Phnom Penh International Airport.

The police report says that on June 19, 2023, the Anti-Drug Crime Force (A1) led by Lt. Col. Mak Serey Vattanak (Deputy Director), in collaboration with the Customs and Excise Unit of the General Department of Immigration at Phnom Penh International Airport, took two foreigners, a man and a woman, into custody after the pair were found with a suitcase containing 1.5k of cocaine.

Mr. Sith Vannak, Deputy Prosecutor of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, said that the Trinidadian man had brought the drug from Sao Paulo in Brazil, via Dubai to Malaysia, and then to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The two suspects are JOEL KNIGHT, a Trinidad and Tobago man who owns the suitcase and is alleged to have smuggled the cocaine from Brazil to Cambodia, and ARTHAN THATSANEE, a Thai woman who was allegedly employed to receive the suitcase in Phnom Penh and deliver the drug to Thailand. A total of 1594.38 grams (1 kg 594.38 grams) of cocaine were seized by the Cambodian authorities.

I have no idea what you have to do to get checked at PP Airport, i flew in almost 20 times i think, and never ever get checked. Maybe i just look as a good boy, and useally with a belgian pasport you are safe about anyware in the world. But exactly in PP they busted 2 Belgians on a flight, with coke, from Brazil also, not really smartasses. They used to run a food truck near Sorya-mall. One of them died already in prison, second-one still inthere . . .

I'm just guessing, but I think the drug busts mainly come from tip-offs. The flights from Brazil to Cambodia mostly go through the Middle East, so I'd guess that the mules carrying drugs get picked up by customs x-rays in Dubai or wherever as they change planes, and the cops there just pass on a message to the destination. ie. PP.
Or maybe the Brazilian cops are on to the operation from the start - they let the mule go, then arrest the Brazilian supplier their end, and also tip off the cops at the end destination ?

Anyway, drug smuggling is a mug's game with the high-tech equipment they have at the airports these days.There's no death penalty in Cambodia, but spending your life in a Cambodian jail is a pretty high price to pay IMO.

Is that Belgian guy still in prison btw ? I saw he unsuccessfully appealed his sentence a while ago. That really sucks, but it was such a dumb thing to do.
How could you not be flagged as suspect for doing a return flight from Cambodia to Brazil, when you are not Cambodian, Brazilian, or in an official import-export business ? That might not be fair, but it is considered suspect.
Good luck to him.

Anchor Moy wrote: ↑Sun Jun 25, 2023 12:47 am I'm just guessing, but I think the drug busts mainly come from tip-offs. The flights from Brazil to Cambodia mostly go through the Middle East, so I'd guess that the mules carrying drugs get picked up by customs x-rays in Dubai or wherever as they change planes, and the cops there just pass on a message to the destination. ie. PP.
Or maybe the Brazilian cops are on to the operation from the start - they let the mule go, then arrest the Brazilian supplier their end, and also tip off the cops at the end destination ?

Anyway, drug smuggling is a mug's game with the high-tech equipment they have at the airports these days.There's no death penalty in Cambodia, but spending your life in a Cambodian jail is a pretty high price to pay IMO.

Is that Belgian guy still in prison btw ? I saw he unsuccessfully appealed his sentence a while ago. That really sucks, but it was such a dumb thing to do.
How could you not be flagged as suspect for doing a return flight from Cambodia to Brazil, when you are not Cambodian, Brazilian, or in an official import-export business ? That might not be fair, but it is considered suspect.
Good luck to him.

He died of asthma.

Gary Small wrote: ↑Sun Jun 25, 2023 1:21 am He died of asthma.

Yeah, sorry if you were a friend of his. I was thinking of the other Belgian guy who was busted at the same time, who must still be in a Cambodian prison unless he got a transfer to Belgium since.
newsworthy/belgian-tanguy-taller-arrest ... 23665.html

Catry died last year in prison, his mate (Taller) was busted at VN border later (dont remember how he getted out of CAM), and he still is in prison. In theorie Catry could prove the innocence from the other one, but he died. Two weeks ago a belgian getted out of prison in Iran after a lot of negotiating with belgian authoroties, and the case from Cambodia came again in the press, that the governement should do more for Taller, to get him out before he also dies in Phnom Penh. But no official explanation from "upstairs" !! ??
The guy in Iran was convicted as a spy, but had nothig to do with drugs, thats probably why they moved they asses a little more, when drugs are involved useally they get very deafff in Brussels !!

Why the hell would a drug smuggler book so many stopovers? Sao Paulo to Dubai to Kuala Lumpur to Phnom Penh to Bangkok??? That's just fucking stupid.

RONEV wrote: ↑Sun Jun 25, 2023 7:09 am Why the hell would a drug smuggler book so many stopovers? Sao Paulo to Dubai to Kuala Lumpur to Phnom Penh to Bangkok??? That's just fucking stupid.

Especially stopovers in countries with the death penalty for smuggling.