Thai authorities have acknowledged that 11.5 tonnes of drug bust may contain harmless chemicals used as food additives or cleaning agents – and not ketamine, as they believe.
Thailand’s anti-narcotics bureau, according to them, applauded the seizure of nearly a billion dollars worth of ketamine, an anesthetic that could also be used as a party drug.
But tests on 66 of the 450 sacks of white powder seized at a warehouse near Bangkok turned out to be trisodium phosphate, a combination of various industrial uses.
After announcing the trip with great fanfare, officials were forced to hold a news conference on Tuesday to explain the mistake.
Justice Minister Somasak Thepsuthin said that when a test for ketamine is applied to trisodium phosphate it can bring false positive results.
“The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) also said that similar errors occurred in other countries, but this was the first time in Thailand,” Somask said.
Forensic scientists are conducting tests to see what is in the remaining bags.
The Kingdom is the main mode of transport for drug trafficking, especially methamphetamines and heroin from the so-called “Golden Triangle” of northern Thailand, Laos, China and Myanmar.
