Police in Battambang province arrested Ren Sara, 36, on Sunday 9 August 2015 after patrolling officers came across him in a marijuana plantation hidden in jungle beside a small stream in Tameun commune, Thma Koul district.[1] The officers uprooted and destroyed 236 plants from the field, according to Tameun commune police chief Yeun Bunruen.[1] A search of Sara’s house in nearby Thmey village then uncovered another 2 kilograms of dried marijuana.[1]

Sara was initially sent to Thma Koul district police station for questioning.[1] Deputy district police chief Heang Buntha said the following day that Sara had been released on compassionate grounds after thumb-printing an assurance that he would not re-offend.[1] Buntha said the grower came from a poor family and had grown the plants to use himself and to help treat someone in his family.[1] “He did not grow the plants for sale, so we have just educated him and released him,” Buntha said.[1]