Cambodian authorities had arrested 1,788 drug suspects and seized a total 81 kilograms of illicit drugs and 51 tons of chemical substances for drug production last year, a report of the National Authority for Combating Drugs (NACD) released on Tuesday.

The perpetrators are 13 nationals including Cambodians, Vietnamese, Laotians, Thais, Chinese, Nigerians, Koreans, Americans, French, Norwegians, Filipinos, Sierra Leoneans and Mexicans.

The illicit drugs seized from them included cocaine, crystal methamphetamines, methamphetamine pills, ecstasy pills, heroin, ketamine, and safrole-rich oil, a key ingredient in the manufacture of the illicit recreational drug ecstasy.

Speaking during the annual anti-drug conference on Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Ke Kim Yan, NACD's chairman, appreciated anti-drug officials for their active crackdowns on drug traffickers and urged them to work harder to build a country free of drugs by 2015.

You Sunlong, NACD's secretary general, said, currently, some 4, 057 Cambodians have addicted to drugs. Of the number, 2,553 addicts have received treatment to quit their drug habit. However, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimated that the country has up to 46,000 people using drug, most of them are youths.



He said drugs are usually trafficked at bars, beer gardens, discotheques, karaoke parlors, night clubs, and slums in Cambodia.