More than 7 tonnes of illegal drugs worth about 20 billion baht were incinerated on Friday at Bang Pa-in Industrial Estate in Ayutthaya to mark International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.
The Public Health Ministry and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) helped verify the 7,340kg of drugs marked for incineration were genuine.
Deputy Prime Minister Yongyuth Yuthavong and Public Health Minister Rajata Rajatanavin presided over the destruction of the drugs, which began about 10am.
The drugs, with an estimated street value of 20 billion baht, were kept as evidence in 5,508 cases which have now been concluded in court. They were stored at FDA warehouses in the central province of Ayutthaya.
Officials place illicit drugs into a container for incineration under tight guard by police and soldiers at Bang Pa-in on Friday. (Photo by Chanat Katanyu)
The drugs were moved from the warehouses to the Bang Pa-in industrial estate incinerator on Friday morning under tight guard by narcotics suppression police, explosive ordnance disposal police, local police and soldiers.
It was the 45th such destruction of confiscated drugs in Thailand. The seized drugs included 5,595kg of methamphetamine pills, 798kg of crystal methamphetamine (or “ice"), 418kg of heroin, 6kg of MDMA, 18kg of opium, along with some other drugs.
The United Nation's International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking falls on June 26 each year and is intended to raise awareness of the major problem that drug abuse and trafficking represents to society.