Wachira Umphon, director of the Substance Control Division is one of the few people with the authority and the password to open it.
Inside the room are hundreds of ordinary cardboard boxes. He opened one to reveal pricey but prohibitive items. Inside the boxes are drugs such as crystal meth (ya ice) and heroin.
On the street, a small package of these drugs can fetch thousands of baht, he said. The entire contents are 6,322 kilograms of confiscated drugs worth B13 billion.
The drugs include 5,514kgr of methamphetamine pills (ya bah), 486kg of ya ice, 108kg of heroin, 122kg of morphine, 10kg of ecstasy and 5kg of cocaine. They were confiscated in 7,245 narcotic cases.
The authority will burn the haul this Monday(June 25) to mark International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on June 26.
“The cases relating to these drugs have all been cleared, so we can now dispose of these drugs,” Mr Wachira said.
The drug treasury at the FDA office in the Chaeng Watthana area was opened to the media yesterday (June 21) 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 tons of drugs are incinerated.
The drugs are set to be destroyed at temperatures higher than 800C, he said.
This type of incineration ensures that there are no harmful chemicals, especially carcinogenic dioxins, left airborne after the incineration, Mr Wachira said.
In another development, two Myanmar men were apprehended with 30kg of ya ice valued at B30 million in Chiang Rai yesterday. The duo were identified as Sai Lyoe, 32, and Sai Hlang Han, 23.
The arrest came after the Narcotics Suppression Bureau received a tip-off that the drugs would be smuggled into the country at a hotel on Phahonyothin Rd in Mae Sai district.
Meanwhile, in Pathum Thani, a policeman was shot dead yesterday by a drug dealer during a drug operation.
Sgt Maj Asarn Ketjampa, 32, a drug suppression officer attached to Nonthaburi province, died after Yongyut Wangpairee, 27, allegedly shot him in the chest.
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