Takeo provincial police burned 21,371 marijuana plants in Kirivong district on Thursday 25 January 2018.[1][2] Lieutenant Colonel Mak Serey Vathana said the plants were found during a raid that followed a police investigation and reports from villagers in the area.[1][2]

Officers found the plants at 56 locations in Preah Bat Choan Chum commune and destroyed the irrigation wells used to water them.[1][2] Lt Col Vathana said police check the area every month because its mountain plots are easy to hide, with the crop grown on small land parcels along the slopes to evade detection.[1][2] He said the drugs were planted by villagers in the district who were poor and in a precarious situation, which made them easy targets for brokers.[1][2]

Police said they kept warning villagers about the impact of drugs and that planting marijuana was illegal.[1][2] Officers were investigating to find the brokers who had hired the villagers to plant the crop.[1][2]