Senior Cambodian police officers charged with drug-related corruption

The two police chief, Hun Hean (L) and Chheang Son, sacked and arrested.

By The Associated Press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Two senior Cambodian police officers were charged Friday with corruption, while a top anti-drug official has been detained for questioning, an anti-corruption official said.

A provincial police chief and his deputy were charged by the Banteay Meanchey provincial court, said Om Yentieng, head of the government's anti-corruption unit.

They were arrested several days ago by the anti-corruption unit on suspicion of taking bribes to release drug trafficking suspects, he said.

Om Yentieng also said the secretary-general of the National Authority for Combating Drugs has been detained on suspicion of activities related to drug trafficking and is being questioned.

Under Cambodia's first anti-corruption law, passed last year after more than a decade of delays, any official found guilty of taking bribes faces up to 15 years in prison. Cambodia, a poor country heavily dependent on foreign aid, is routinely listed by groups such as Transparency International as one of the most corrupt in Asia.

Om Yentieng said his agency found that the officers in Banteay Meanchey had received bribes from drug traffickers.

"After arresting the traffickers, they received the offenders' money for changing the confessions and the report," he said.