Cambodia's Interior Minister Urges Enhanced Intelligence for Drug Crackdown, Equating it to Monitoring Dissidents

The Minister of Interior has instructed police forces to enhance intelligence expertise in monitoring drug trafficking rings, equating it to the surveillance of illegal dissidents. This is emphasized as not infringing on the rights of ordinary citizens or political activists. According to Mr. Ren Rotana, spokesperson for His Excellency Sar Sokha, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, in a social media post on the afternoon of September 8, 2026, His Excellency Sar Sokha stated during the opening ceremony of the 5th mandate Commune-Sangkat Council Work Results Summary Meeting on September 7, 2026, that the limited capacity of forces in monitoring, investigating, and cracking down on drug criminals requires a change in strategy or tactics, including the effective use of intelligence expertise, similar to the surveillance of illegal dissidents. The spokesperson explained that this intelligence expertise has, in the past, helped to timely prevent all attempts to create social chaos, especially attempts to establish color revolutions or other acts of sabotage that bring disaster to the nation, affecting the daily lives of the people and investors. On this point, the spokesperson further clarified to the public that in all countries around the world, intelligence forces are the secret forces of the state, tasked with monitoring and collecting information on any individuals or legal entities that have plans or are attempting to commit various illegal activities. This is to take preventive, deterrent, and crackdown measures in a timely manner to ensure social normalcy, especially to prevent any malicious plans from occurring that would affect public interests. "In this sense, His Excellency Sar Sokha has set a direction for the specialized forces to strengthen the investigation, research, and crackdown on drug offenses at the grassroots level, especially the ringleaders of illegal production, trafficking, and distribution of drugs, effectively, in order to protect the well-being of the people and prevent other security incidents in society," he added. Finally, Mr. Ren Rotana expressed gratitude to the public for their interest and participation in expressing opinions and views on this topic, affirming that this is a normal process in a democratic society that values freedom of expression. Source: Koh Santepheap Khmer