Cambodia sentences two Taiwanese men 58 years jail for drugs

Phnom Penh - Two Taiwanese men were sentenced to 30 and 28 years in prison after being found guilty of trying to smuggle more than a kilo of heroin out of Cambodia late last year, a judge said Tuesday.

Judge Sao Meach of Phnom Penh Municipal Court said the two, for whom the court gave the Khmerized names as Yein Junasuch, 49, and Jy Sunglean, 59, had been found guilty of trying to board a flight to Hong Kong from Phnom Penh International Airport on October 20 last year carrying 1.4 kilograms of the drug between them.

The pair had been carrying the heroin in pairs of specially built-up shoes as well as on their person and their strange gait raised the suspicions of customs officials, the court heard.

Junasuch was given the harsher sentence as he was carrying more, Meach said.

Both men are expected to appeal the sentences.

The harsh sentences are thought to mirror increasing frustration by Cambodian anti-drug trafficking police after a string of Taiwanese and mainland Chinese have been caught at the airport smuggling drugs in recent years.

Cambodia does not have a death penalty.