I find this surprising. I didn't know there was a market for such stuff.

Whilst much of the region is awash with yaba, ice and heroin (and weed and extacy to a lesser extent) I have never known anyone to sell cocaine. I remember coming across a young Swedish man in Bui Vien HCMC very late at night who offered me a line of cocaine which I declined on the basis I don't particularly like the stuff and I informed him it almost certainly wouldn't be cocaine - especially as he bought it on the street. But he insisted it was and showed it to me and one look at the stuff and it was clear the bloke was sticking some Chinese research chemical up his schnozzle. (At best.)

But with cocaine retailing at at least $60 a gram, and I imagine here for considerably more than that, isn't it way too expensive for the vast majority of people here?

I live in Laos and there is no heroin here as it is too expensive. Shit loads of yaba. Cocaine? Forget about it already. But maybe the fact people are smuggling cocaine to the region highlights the huge economic progress that has taken place, and is taking place, in the last decade or so. It is after all marketing as an aspirational substance - unlike its close sibling crack.

Disclaimer: I am not looking to purchase any!

Marty wrote: ↑Fri May 29, 2020 7:00 am

No need to import that garbage then.

I would imagine if it was indeed destined for Khmer nostrils the purity would be much higher on average than cocaine in the western world. I know it is in Hong Kong. Much more extreme but much higher quality.

Hey I'm totally for substance use, but it never did anything for me, though people seem to love it.

There are rare, but regular cocaine busts that usually involve a foreigner flying into Cambodia from Brazil via the Middle East (Dubai). Two Belgian men were sentenced to life in prison last year for importing cocaine from Brazil.
newsworthy/belgian-caught-with-cocaine- ... 17684.html
newsworthy/belgian-tanguy-taller-arrest ... 23665.html

In the following arrests, the cocaine seized in Cambodia was destined for Hong Kong. It would be safe to presume that Cambodia is still being used by cocaine traffickers as an easily accessed transit hub between South America to the giant Hong Kong and Chinese drug markets.
newsworthy/two-malaysians-arrested-for- ... 11614.html
newsworthy/venezuelan-woman-was-arreste ... 11235.html
newsworthy/blignaut-chan-arrested-secon ... 15457.html
newsworthy/south-african-arrested-with- ... 10885.html

Drugs both legit and not are generally synthesized these days. Wonder why the Chinese just dont do that? They can copy anything else. Heck they are even putting people on the moon. Thats the bad news. The good news is they are all going.

UPDATE: The two men have received life sentences from Phnom Penh Court.

June 8, 2020
Two foreigners get life for drug trafficking

Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday convicted two Colombian men to life in prison for importing 20 kilogrammes of cocaine from Brazil to Cambodia via a courier company, in 2017.

Presiding Judge Seng Leang identified them as Quevedo Pinzonfelix Rodrigo, 54, a cloth merchant and Giraldo Marulandajuan Carlos, 47, a tourist.

Both were convicted for “keeping, transport or illicit traffic of narcotic substances” under Article 40 of the Law on Drug Control.

“Although both of them denied their involvement in the drug trade, they failed to present evidence to support their claim,” said Judge Leang.

“The court finds them guilty and sentences both of them to life in prison. They each have to pay a fine of $10,000,” he said.

During the trial on May 28, Anti-Drug Department deputy police chief Lieutenant Colonel Chea Samoeun testified that on November 8, 2017, his department received a report from their Belgium counterpart about a shipment carrying smuggled drugs from Brazil to Cambodia, being sent via the courier company, DHL.
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50731143/t ... afficking/

Thats a harsh senetnce for these dudes esentially importing a legitimate dental anesthetic.