Prime Minister Hun Manet has reiterated the need to “purify” the armed forces from any involvement with illegal drugs, whether within the National Police, the gendarmerie or the army. He warned that all law enforcement officials must remain “clean” of narcotics.

Speaking at the December 21 annual meeting of the Ministry of Environment, Manet outlined three social issues which the Kingdom is facing: illegal drugs, inappropriate religious practices and the high rate of road accidents.

The former commander of the Royal Cambodian Army recalled that around 80 soldiers were dismissed for their involvement with illegal drugs in recent years. In 2019 alone, 48 were dismissed for the same reason.

“The Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of National Defence, the National Police and each of the army commands must conduct thorough investigations. Any officer who is involved with drugs must be relieved of their post and fired. Vacant positions will be refilled through the recruitment process,” he said.

Without naming the individuals in question, Manet mentioned some recent examples, in which a two-star general police officer was fired for his involvement with narcotics, and two district Military Police officers in Kampong Speu province were also made redundant.

“I am declaring that if we don’t purify the armed forces – who are tasked with enforcing the law – then we will be in trouble.

“We will start a new approach from right now, under the new government. Those who are involved with drugs must be fired,” he warned.

He also made it clear that any foreigner who was convicted of a drug offence must be deported as soon as their legal proceedings were completed. 

From January 1 to December 20, the Kingdom’s anti-drug forces had investigated 7,821 drug cases and arrested 19,457 suspects, 1,312 of them were women, according to a National Police report.