Cambodian police destroyed 22,418 marijuana plants in the southern Takeo province during raids on Friday, the National Police website reported.

Police raided on four locations in Kiri Vong district's Preah Bat Chonchum community along the Vietnamese border, and seized the cannabis as the growers fled, said Lieutenant Colonel Yuk Sarath, police chief of Kiri Vong district.

"We had cut the marijuana plants and set them on fire at those locations," he was quoted as saying by the National Police website.

The crackdown was part of a six-month anti-illicit drug campaign that Cambodia launched on Jan. 1, 2017. According to government figures, some 2,428 people were arrested in almost 1,000 drug-related cases in January. Last year about 9,800 people were arrested in drug offences.

Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen vowed on Wednesday to intensify the fight against illicit drugs for a drug-free Cambodia.

"I'd like to appeal to all people to join the government to prevent the use of illicit drugs and to eliminate the drugs for the future of our offspring," he said in a speech during a ceremony.

source: Xinhua