Cambodia authorities have arrested two African nationals and their Cambodian accomplice for allegedly trying to smuggle drugs from the Asian nation to Australia.
Thirty nine years old Ogadimma Igwe Linus, a Nigerian; and a 29-year-old Sierra Leonean, identified as Conth Abdul, were arrested on Tuesday by the Anti-drug Department in Phnom Penh.
The duo were arrested alongside a woman, Han Lis, who is 28.
The suspects were caught while trying to send 993.42 grams of methamphetamine drug to Australia via FEDEX on 6 October.
The drug was hidden inside books.
The operation was coordinated by the Phnom Penh court prosecutor, Soeung Moneyroth.
The suspects and the evidence were sent to the anti-drug department for case preparation.
The trio will face a tough situation in custody. The Asian country has set up a crackdown on drug use, a battle that is ongoing for three years and has witnessed a series of abuse, torture and corruption.
In May, Amnesty International said the Cambodian government’s three-year-long “war on drugs” campaign has fuelled a rising tide of human rights abuses, dangerously overfilled detention facilities.
Cambodia’s Prime Minister, Hun Sen, launched his anti-drugs campaign in January 2017, just weeks after a state visit by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, during which the two leaders pledged to cooperate in combatting drugs.
Yet, like the Philippines’ so-called “war on drugs”, this campaign is rife with egregious human rights violations that are disproportionately affecting poor and marginalized people – irrespective of whether or not they use drugs, the agency said.