Bangkok: 13 billion baht of drugs – up in smoke
The Thai Food and Drug Administration is about to incinerate 6,322 kilograms of confiscated drugs. It will be a bonfire valued at around worth 13 billion baht ($395 million) to mark the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on June 26.
The big fire will be fuelled by 5,514 kilogram of methamphetamine pills, 486kg of crystal meth, 108kg of heroin, 122kg of morphine, 10kg of ecstasy and 5kg of cocaine. All the drugs have been confiscated in 7,245 narcotic cases and raids.
Wachira Umphon, director of the Substance Control Division, says that the cases relating to these drugs have all been trapped up, so the drugs used to bring about the convictions can now be destroyed.
The drug warehouse of the Food and Drug Administration office in Bangkok was open to the media on Friday to show how the drugs and substances are stored and secured.
The burning of confiscated drugs has been done for more than 40 years. Each year, almost 10 tonnes of drugs are incinerated. The drugs are destroyed in an industrial incinerator where the temperatures reach higher than 850 degrees. Food and Drug Administration say that this high temperature ensures that there are no harmful chemicals, especially carcinogenic dioxins, left airborne after the incineration process.
