Three charged over 12,500 cannabis plants in Anlong Veng
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.
🇰🇭 Ta Meng village, Anlong Veng, Oddar Meanchey · Cambodia
Oddar Meanchey provincial anti-drug police arrested three suspects for
questioning over cannabis cultivation in Anlong Veng commune, Anlong Veng
district.[1]Those held were a man and two women.[2]They were arrested on
Sunday.[2]The provincial court later charged all three with illegal planting
of addictive plants under Article 38 of the Law on Drugs Control and placed them
in prison.[2]Police did not release their identities.[2]If convicted, each
faces two to five years in prison.[2]Before the charge, deputy provincial
police chief Thong Sami said he had asked the prosecutor to extend their
detention for a day or two to complete the investigation.[1]
Officers found the cannabis concealed in a mango plantation after residents
reported a plantation in the commune.[1]The crop covered 5,500 square metres,
about 0.55 hectares, inside a five-hectare mango farm at Ta Meng village.[2]A
villager who entered the farm to look for fruit discovered the plants and
alerted police.[2]Police destroyed the fresh marijuana plants.[1]Police
seized36kg of dried marijuana and counted 12,500 marijuana trees at the site.[2]Officers also seized a car, a tractor and other cultivation equipment.[1]
Provincial police chief Major General Huoth Sothy said drug cultivation is
illegal in Cambodia and urged villagers not to plant marijuana or deal drugs.[2]Deputy chief Sami declined further details, citing the ongoing
investigation.[1]
Photos and video
Officers inspect the marijuana plantation in Anlong Veng district on July 4. Photo: Police.Photo details
The court charge was reported on July 7 as having happened “yesterday”, so July 6 is inferred as the charge date while July 4 is used as the raid date.
The two sources describe the seized machinery differently, with one listing a car, a bulldozer, one tractor and other equipment and the other listing a car, a home-made tractor and paraphernalia, so only the shared car, tractor and equipment are recorded.
The same Phnom Penh Post article also describes police destroying two marijuana sites in Kiri Vong district, Takeo province on July 4, which is a separate event left out of this report.
The names and ages of the three accused were not published.
No trial outcome beyond the charge and pre-trial detention was reported.
The exact location of Ta Meng village was not verified, so coordinates are for the Anlong Veng district centre.
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.
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.
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.
