Regional News
Nigerian Woman Caught With Meth in Laptop at Phnom Penh International Airport
PHNOM PENH – A 34-year-old Nigerian woman was arrested at Phnom Penh International Airport on Saturday with about 1.5 kg of methamphetamine hidden inside electronic devices, officials said.
In Song, deputy chief of the Interior Ministry’s anti-drug department, said Eniola Bosede Collins was arrested late Saturday after her baggage was searched on arrival.
Border officials cooperating with anti-drug police discovered plastic packets of the drug concealed in compartments within an HP-branded laptop computer and a Chusei-branded portable DVD player, he said.
“We did not yet arrest her partners, who we think are living in Phnom Penh,” he said. “Those who bring in meth either sell it in Phnom Penh or take it to Thailand.”
According to Mr. Song, Phnom Penh Municipal Court chief prosecutor Meas Kimpiseth charged Ms. Collins on Monday with smuggling drugs and placed her in pretrial detention.
Airport border police chief Chhuor Kimny said Ms. Collins’ mobile phone had been confiscated in the hope it would lead to more suspects. “They found a total of 1,485.8 grams of methamphetamine.”
Ms. Collins had arrived on a Qatar Airways flight from Doha via Ho Chi Minh City—a route that has only been flying into Phnom Penh since February—Mr. Kimny said.
Her original point of departure was Nigeria.
Phnom Penh and Siem Reap airports have seen a spate of drug arrests over the past 12 months—some using the country as a transit point and others as the destination.
