FDA to burn illicit drugs worth Bt6.9 billion

Winai Monthapong, legal advisor of the Office of the Narcotics Control Board said the agency is set to incinerate a total of 2,755kg of narcotics confiscated in 1,023 cases at the Bang Pa-in industrial estate in Ayutthaya at 2pm.

He was speaking after inspecting 33 random samples of seized drugs at an FDA warehouse.

Among the drugs to be destroyed are 1,936kg of methamphetamine worth Bt6.45 billion, 147kg of crystal methamphetamine worth Bt433 million and 58kg of heroin worth Bt41 million.

He conceded there is a huge backlog of pending cases in the courts with a massive amount of seized narcotics, which cannot yet be destroyed.

If a suspect pleads guilty, each trial can finish within two months otherwise it can be prolonged for one or two years. The faster the trials are processes, the sooner the seized drugs can be destroyed, Winai noted.