BANGKOK: Thai forces have arrested three men, a Cambodian national was shot and two others arrested last week while allegedly smuggling drugs across the border.
Ho Sakun, director of the Interior Ministry’s Central Border Department, said the shooting – which came just days after the Interior Ministry released a report revealing that nine Cambodians were shot dead by Thai soldiers in 2014 alone, and 19 arrested – took place in Thailand’s Sa Kaeo province at around 5pm on Wednesday.
“When Thai soldiers spotted them they chased them and shot a man in the leg and then arrested two others,” he said. “The one who got injured was sent to hospital in Sa Kaeo province for treatment and the other two were detained.” A post on the National Police website identifies the injured man as 37-year-old Reth Rithy, who it says owned the drugs. His alleged accomplices are named as 54-year-old Bun Yong and 26-year-old Bun Sovat, who it says were hired to carry the drugs. According to the post, Thai soldiers seized 200 pills and two motorbikes from the trio.
Sakun was unsure what drugs the group was trafficking. Pich Vanna, director of the Cambodia-Thai Border Relations Office, said the group would likely remain in Thailand to face legal action. “We could not ask the Thai side to transfer them back,” he explained. Foreign Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong and officials from Thailand’s Foreign Affairs Ministry could not be reached.
