Cambodia arrested five cannabis growers in 32 Takeo cultivation cases in 2022
Cambodia's National Authority for Combating Drugs said authorities found 32 marijuana cultivation cases in 2022 and arrested five Cambodian growers, most of them in Takeo province's Kiri Vong district. The same annual report counted 6,290 drug crimes, 14,784 suspects detained and more than 60,000 cannabis plants seized nationwide.
Cambodian authorities found 32 marijuana cultivation cases in 2022 and arrested
five Cambodian growers, Lieutenant General Nak Yuthea, deputy secretary-general
of the National Authority for Combating Drugs, said.[1]Nak Yuthea said Takeo
province, and Kiri Vong district in particular, is the country’s largest area
for growing marijuana.[1]
He said all 32 cases involved local people, and that growers with a few plants
are educated and released while those growing on a large scale for retail have
their plants destroyed and face prosecution.[1]The government’s anti-drug
campaign report for 2022 counted 6,290 drug crimes and 14,784 people arrested,
of nine nationalities.[1]According to the report, 32 of the cases were for
cultivation and 2,007 for usage, and 10 cases were being processed by the
courts.[1]The report said police confiscated more than 14 tons of marijuana,
over 60,000 cannabis plants and more than 500 tons of chemical ingredients.[1]The Anti-Drugs Police Department report of the same 2022 figures, released on 1
January 2023, said 259 of the detainees were foreigners of nine nationalities.[2]A second Khmer Times report on the 2022 national figures gave the dried
marijuana seized as 45 kilogrammes.[3]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Khmer Timeskhmertimeskh.comMinistry of National Defence arrested 1,534 people involved in drug crimes in 2022
Open questions the AI reported
The article gives no single date for the cultivation cases; they cover 2022 and the statement was made on 9 January 2023, the day before publication.
No breakdown by province is published: Takeo and Kiri Vong are described as the largest area, but how many of the 32 cases and five arrests were there is not reported.
No number of plants destroyed in cultivation crackdowns is published; the over 60,000 cannabis plants are the national seizure figure for all drug crimes.
The 14 tons of marijuana is a national seizure figure for all drug cases and is not counted as a cannabis-only figure here.
The 500 tons of chemical ingredients and the other drug quantities are not cannabis and are left out of the figures.
Nak Yuthea's account appears to describe cultivation cases among the 32 in the campaign report, but the article never states they are the same 32 cases.
The report does not record court outcomes for the five arrested growers.
No photograph of the cultivation cases themselves could be tied to this event; the page image is a Kampuchea Thmey picture of an earlier destroyed Kiri Vong plantation.
The text gives a number of plants ("60,000 cannabis plants") but the figures have no plants_destroyed; check whether it belongs there.
A report by Cambodia's Anti-Drug Department counted 14,977 people arrested for drug offences between January and July 2025, 2.7% more than in the same period a year earlier; 537 of them were foreigners. Seizures included 505 kg of dried cannabis and 12,212 fresh cannabis plants, out of 1.91 tonnes of drugs in all.
Cambodia's Anti-Drug Department stopped six Malaysian men at Phnom Penh airport on 16 July 2025 as they were about to board a London-bound flight via Hong Kong, finding nearly 62 kg of dried cannabis in four suitcases. All six were expected to be charged under Article 40 of the drug control law.
Oddar Meanchey police arrested three people after finding 12,500 cannabis plants and 36kg of dried cannabis hidden in a mango farm in Anlong Veng. All three were charged with illegal planting and face two to five years in prison.
Arrested 3Charged 3Plants destroyed 12,500Area 0.6 ha
Police in Sala Krao district, Pailin province, arrested 54-year-old Meal Pun after finding 89 cannabis plants around his home in O'Andong commune. He said he grew the cannabis for personal use; officers seized the plants with pipes and processing tools, released him after he pledged not to replant, and said he would appear in court.
