The National Police’s Anti-Drug Department on August 25 transferred 11 suspects related to the dramatic escape of a convicted Chinese heroin trafficker from a Siem Reap dental clinic to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court for legal action.

A social media announcement by the police said the 11 included the armed men who freed the drug kingpin, the kingpin himself and accomplices.

Back on August 17, a group of six men armed with handguns stormed the dental clinic in Svay Dangkum commune of Siem Reap town to free the convict. The assailants, dressed in black suits and masks, handcuffed the four prison guards who were escorting the prisoner, then made their escape in a getaway vehicle.

Deputy National Police chief Mak Chito, who heads the anti-drug department, announced the arrest of escaped prisoner Chen Hsin Han on August 23, saying he had been recaptured that morning.

Chito said the National Police had been conducting rigorous inquiries since the breakout, and had made several arrests connected to the case in the days preceding the recapture. The criminals included Cambodian-Americans hailing from Long Beach in the US state of California and some from Turkiye and Taiwan.

He said it was believed that the criminal band had been planning the breakout for the past two months. The gunmen arrived from the US roughly two weeks prior to the escape, presumably to reconnoitre the dental clinic and prepare their escape routes.