Producer of lethal weight loss pill arrested
published : 2 Dec 2022 at 11:16
Police have arrested the co-producer of a weight loss pill which caused the death of three people, after he breached bail conditions set by the court.
Crime Suppression Division police detained Natthawat Warodommakorn, 50, outside a condominium in Huay Kwang district of Bangkok on Thursday.
Mr Natthawat was under an arrest warrant issued on Jan 18 this year by the Kanchanaburi Provincial Court after he broke bail conditions by not attending the hearning. He and a business partner, whose name was not released, were charged with adding adulterating substances to a drug that led to the deaths of consumers.
The two produced Lyn, a brand of diet pill. Three customers died in 2018 after taking them, one of them in Kanchanaburi's Muang district.
The Institute of Forensic Medicine later said two illegal chemicals had caused their deaths. They were sibutramine, which is an appetite suppressant, and bisacodyl, a type of laxative. The two substances have been banned by the Food and Drug Administration since 2010.
Mr Natthawat's partner died last year.
He claimed that his partner was responsible for adding the harmful chemicals to the pills.
Mr Natthawat said he had no intention to breach the court order, citing health problems. He was being sent back to the provincial court in Kanchanaburi province.
