PHNOM PENH (Reuters) -- Cambodia charged a two-star general with drug trafficking on Monday in connection with a record seizure of heroin which the government is hailing as the start of a high-profile anti-drugs crusade.

In a raid on a Phnom Penh house this month, police said they found drug-making equipment and 35kg (77 lb) of heroin worth millions of dollars on the streets of Australia and the United States, its likely destinations.

Phnom Penh court prosecutor Sok Reoun said two-star general Dom Hak, a military intelligence chief, had been charged with drug smuggling. Three Taiwanese and four Cambodians also arrested in the raid were charged last week.

"He has been charged with the same offense," prosecutor Sok Roeun told Reuters.

Officials said the heroin had probably been smuggled down the Mekong river from the notorious Golden Triangle, a drug-rich region where Laos, Thailand and military-ruled Myanmar meet.

Even before a bloody crackdown on drug dealers in neighboring Thailand, foreign governments have long feared war-scarred Cambodia was a favored smuggling route through Southeast Asia because of its corrupt officials and a lack of law enforcement.

Phnom Penh has made much of the seizure, staging a very public burning of the heroin to demonstrate what the government says is an unwavering commitment to combating drugs.