Thailand torches drugs worth RM1.7b in street value

BANGKOK: A whopping 8.4 tonnes of drugs seized by various Thai authorities, with an estimated street value of 13.697 billion baht (about RM1.75 billion), were torched Monday.
The drugs were incinerated in a ceremony to mark the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on Tuesday.
According to the Ministry of Public Health, among the drugs destroyed were methamphetamine and amphetamine and its derivatives, which made up the bulk of the torched drugs, as well as heroin, marijuana, opium and kratom.
From 1977 until this year, the country has destroyed a total of 129 tonnes of seized drugs valued at 197.343 billion baht (about RM25.3 billion) in street value.
Among the drugs destroyed during that period were amphetamine and methamphetamine (74.8 tonnes), opium and other narcotics (28.7 tonnes), heroin (25.1 tonnes) and ecstasy (179kg).
Monday's ceremony was held at the Bang Pa-in Industrial Estate in Ayutthaya, north of Bangkok, using the Pyrolytic Incineration method at a temperature of 850 degrees Celsius and higher to ensure that it would not pollute the surrounding environment. — Bernama