50,000 cannabis plants destroyed in Mondulkiri plantation raid
Police in Mondulkiri province destroyed more than a hectare of marijuana in Sen Monorom City on 4 April 2021 and seized and destroyed about 50,000 plants weighing nearly 400 kilogrammes. The plantation owner fled before officers arrived and faces a search and up to five years in prison if convicted.
🇰🇭 Pousam village, Sen Monorom commune, Sen Monorom City, Mondulkiri province · Cambodia
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Plants destroyed
50,000
Area
1 ha
Cannabis
400 kg
Agencies
Sen Monorom City police, Mondulkiri province Anti-drugs Department
Police in Mondulkiri province destroyed a marijuana plantation of more than one
hectare in Sen Monorom City on Sunday, 4 April 2021.[1]Major Nuon Ratanak,
deputy chief of Sen Monorom City police, said district police officers and the
Mondulkiri province Anti-drugs Department raided the plantation at 10.30am in
the valley of a mountain in Pousam village, Sen Monorom commune.[1]The
plantation owner fled before police arrived, and the officer said police were
searching for him to bring him to justice.[1]
Police seized and destroyed about 50,000 marijuana plants described as tall as
trees and weighing nearly 400 kilogrammes, along with other drug-related
materials.[1]The owner is accused of planting marijuana without authorisation
and faces up to five years in prison if convicted, Major Ratanak said.[1]
Police learned of the plantation on the previous day, after a villager found it
while searching for wild bees and tree fruit.[1]The officer called on
villagers not to plant marijuana or deal in drugs because it is against the law.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Plants destroyed
50,000
Area
1 ha
Cannabis
400 kg
Agencies
Sen Monorom City police; Mondulkiri province Anti-drugs Department
Only one account of the raid was found; no police statement or second outlet report was available to confirm the figures.
The article dates the raid only to 'Sunday'; 4 April 2021 is inferred from the 6 April publication date.
The 50,000 plants and the nearly 400 kilogrammes are police figures for plants seized and destroyed at the site together; the source does not say whether the weight is of the plants or of dried material.
The area is given only as 'more than one hectare', so one hectare is recorded as the stated area.
The owner is described only as a man who fled; his name, whether he was arrested or charged, and any court outcome are not reported.
The five years in prison is the maximum penalty the charge could carry, not a sentence imposed, and is not recorded as a figure.
On 14 February 2025 Oral district military police and Kampong Speu provincial military police raided three one-hectare farms in Keng Raing Valley, burning 7,755 marijuana plants. Officers are searching for the cultivators; no one was arrested during the operation.
On 2 February 2025 Takeo provincial governor Vie Samnang led police, military police and district forces to seven illegal plantations on the Bayang Kor range, cutting and burning 3,365 plants across about 1,890 square metres and removing six water tanks. No arrests were reported.
Police destroyed thousands of marijuana seedlings spread across eight sites covering about 2,000 square metres on Toteung mountain in Takeo's Kiri Vong district, seizing six irrigation water tanks. No growers were arrested after they fled before police arrived, continuing a cycle of replanting and eradication reported since 2019.
Police and military police raided five marijuana farms in the foothills near the Vietnamese border in Takeo's Kirivong district on 30 January 2021, burning more than 20,000 plants. The owners fled as officers moved in, and a manhunt followed.
