PHNOM PENH, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian authorities had arrested 17,795 drug suspects in 2017, an increase of 79 percent from the 9,933 suspects in the previous year, senior officials said on Monday.
Speaking during an annual drug conference, Meas Vyrith, secretary-general of the National Authority for Combating Drugs (NACD), said a total of 8,173 drug cases were reported last year, up 92 percent from only 4,246 cases in 2016.
He said nearly 300 kg of illicit drugs - heroin, cocaine, crystal methamphetamine, methamphetamine pills, ketamine, ecstasy, and dry marijuana - as confiscated last year.
Deputy Prime Minister Ke Kim Yan, chairman of the NACD, said the illicit drugs remained a concern for Cambodia, saying the drugs had been smuggled into the country by land, air and post.
"Most of the illicit drugs had been smuggled into Cambodia through border crossings in the northeast. This year, nearly 100 kilos of the drugs had been confiscated at border crossings in the northeast," he said, referring to the Cambodia-Laos border areas.
It is estimated that the Southeast Asian nation has 20,621 drug addicts and 11,601 of them have received drug quit treatment.
The country has no death sentence for drug traffickers. Under its law, a person trafficking more than 80 grams of illicit drug will be jailed for life.