June 20, 2008
AAP (Australia)
More than 1,000 barrels of an oil that could have made billions of US dollars worth of ecstasy tablets have been destroyed in a joint operation by Australian Federal Police and Cambodian authorities.
Up in smoke went 33 tonnes of safrole-rich oil - enough to have made 245 million tablets - in the operation conducted at Pursat in western Cambodia this week.
Police said the oil, produced from local trees, was contained in 1,278 barrels and could have produced ecstasy tablets with an Australian street value of $7.6 billion.
The AFP says a significant blow has been dealt to the trade of illicit drugs in the region and the operation is an excellent example of federal police working with international policing partners.
"I commend the coordinated effort by Cambodian authorities to seize the oil, break the production chain and reduce the dependency on income from illegal drug manufacture," AFP national manager border international Tim Morris said in a statement.
"This oil is not only a precursor in ecstasy production, it also has considerable social and ecological ramifications for Cambodia's people and environment."
Mr Morris said the oil was known to be carcinogenic and mutagenic (capable of inducing genetic mutation) and the people working in the clandestine laboratories where the drugs are manufactured were among Cambodia's poorest farmers.
Safrole-rich oil is derived from the roots of two varieties of the Sassafras tree, classified as a rare species which only grows in Cambodia's Cardamom Mountains.
To distil this oil from the roots, the entire tree is cut down with the timber used to fire the clandestine laboratory furnaces.
Much of the oil ends up in Vietnam, China and Thailand, where it is not illegal, for refinement.
The AFP team of four technicians and two forensic chemists from the Specialist Response Amphetamine Type Stimulants (SRATS) team began burning the oil stockpile this week, 170km west of the capital Phnom Penh.
To conduct the operation, the AFP members transported specialist equipment from Australia including chemical suits, breathing apparatus, decontamination showers, air compressors, generators and gas monitoring and analysis equipment.
The operation took several days and was conducted in the early morning and evening because of sweltering conditions.
Cambodian authorities had been working since 2002 to stem the distillation of safrole-rich oil, the AFP said.
They have detected and dismantled more than 50 clandestine laboratories capable of producing up to 60 litres a day.
The single-largest seizure was made in April this year during a three-week operation by the Cambodian National Police, military police, Cambodian prosecutors, forestry and environment officials in an uninhabited area of the western region.
Cambodia's National Authority for Combating Drugs then approached the AFP to assist with the safe disposal of the oil stockpile.
Up in smoke went 33 tonnes of safrole-rich oil - enough to have made 245 million tablets - in the operation conducted at Pursat in western Cambodia this week.
Police said the oil, produced from local trees, was contained in 1,278 barrels and could have produced ecstasy tablets with an Australian street value of $7.6 billion.
The AFP says a significant blow has been dealt to the trade of illicit drugs in the region and the operation is an excellent example of federal police working with international policing partners.
"I commend the coordinated effort by Cambodian authorities to seize the oil, break the production chain and reduce the dependency on income from illegal drug manufacture," AFP national manager border international Tim Morris said in a statement.
"This oil is not only a precursor in ecstasy production, it also has considerable social and ecological ramifications for Cambodia's people and environment."
Mr Morris said the oil was known to be carcinogenic and mutagenic (capable of inducing genetic mutation) and the people working in the clandestine laboratories where the drugs are manufactured were among Cambodia's poorest farmers.
Safrole-rich oil is derived from the roots of two varieties of the Sassafras tree, classified as a rare species which only grows in Cambodia's Cardamom Mountains.
To distil this oil from the roots, the entire tree is cut down with the timber used to fire the clandestine laboratory furnaces.
Much of the oil ends up in Vietnam, China and Thailand, where it is not illegal, for refinement.
The AFP team of four technicians and two forensic chemists from the Specialist Response Amphetamine Type Stimulants (SRATS) team began burning the oil stockpile this week, 170km west of the capital Phnom Penh.
To conduct the operation, the AFP members transported specialist equipment from Australia including chemical suits, breathing apparatus, decontamination showers, air compressors, generators and gas monitoring and analysis equipment.
The operation took several days and was conducted in the early morning and evening because of sweltering conditions.
Cambodian authorities had been working since 2002 to stem the distillation of safrole-rich oil, the AFP said.
They have detected and dismantled more than 50 clandestine laboratories capable of producing up to 60 litres a day.
The single-largest seizure was made in April this year during a three-week operation by the Cambodian National Police, military police, Cambodian prosecutors, forestry and environment officials in an uninhabited area of the western region.
Cambodia's National Authority for Combating Drugs then approached the AFP to assist with the safe disposal of the oil stockpile.
11 comments:
thank you , australia, for working with the cambodian authority to contain illegal drug activity in cambodia. cambodia always appreciates australian gov't and people for helping cambodia so cambodia can be a better place for all to enjoy. please continue to lookout after cambodia with the good friendship and cooperation of the cambodian gov't. god bless australia and cambodia.
thank you for making cambodia aware the dangerous effects of illegal drugs in cambodia.
We,Cambodian citizen, appreciates Australian government for the warmly care of our country. I hope this actions will continues forward to make this grateful nation become a better place.
This is not good! Cambodia should be part of the drug Cartel. Base on the amount of ecstasy tablets that can be created from this oil, Cambodia and her people can live better lives. The street value of the amount of tablets that can be produced is about $7.6 billion dollars, that is about as much as the current GDP of the country. Imagine what a country like Cambodia can do with that amount of money.
Even thought it is considered dirty money, this large sum of money can be used to rebuild the nation and lift Cambodia out of poverty. This is amount of money is larger then any major industries producer in the country.
Thailand is/was known for profitting a great deal for the illegal drug trade, why shouldn't Cambodia?
The west has taken too long to help Cambodia rebuid. I think Cambodia should help herself rebuid even if viewed as something bad such as illegal trade. Fuck the West for bring Cambodia back to the stone age!!!
Why there is always an idiot posting non sense comments.
9:16 AM If you live outside Cambodia you should be in Guantanamo. If you live in Cambodia just stick your tongue into an electrical outlet it will do good to you tiny brain.
Why there always an idiot posting his non sense comment.
Hey 9:42 AM If you live outside Cambodia you should be in Guantanamo. If you live in Cambodia just stick you tongue in an electrical outlet, it will do good to you tiny brain.
Oops, the two comments above is addressed to 9:16AM
You're an idiot! Mr/Ms. 9:42 AM, Cambodia has suffer so much. Agree? Countries like the US and Australia spend billions and billions of dollars just to feed their dogs and cats but yet they will not help Cambodia with a few million dollars to help feed the Cambodian people. US spends billions and billions of dollars a day just for the war in Iraq and Afganistan. To the West, Cambodians are sub-humans. They don't give a shit about Cambodia and her people.
That's why I said Fuck the West, they like to throw away money on really stupid stuff like the name brand clothes, but when it comes to the lives of Cambodians, they don't give a fuck.
You like to be a sub-human don't you? I bet you do, that why you are sucking white people dicks, phrasing them for destroying potential sources of income for Cambodia. Tsk, tsk, tsk....you're a disgrace to the poor Cambodians trying to feed their families by any means.
Congratulation AUt..GV, I hope you cotinue to cooperate with Cambodian authority telling and leading them to distroy what they did is wrong. You know what some of Hun Sen GV personal are not Happy with you droge elits police force present in the country. I am very please that your personal polices force present in Cambodia to take this wast opperation. Otherwise the job never done, Cambodian low ranking police need indeed the foreigner pressure and take action on hand to this matter; because they don't have any authority to do so. All of the illegal activities comitted are their BOSS.Thanks one again And take care!
10:05AM The destruction of these drug pile really anger you. I think you're a drug dealer and maybe a drug addict. Please go to a detox center, ask for help you are really pathetic.
Go cry somewhere else.
Ha ha ha ha...
10:38 AM, you're a sub-human. hahaha. You would rather see your people stave by these crackers then see poor Cambodians making a great deal off producing these drugs. Only if there were any many stupid people like you then there would be more sub-humans. :)
That is why we must vote CPP this comming election to get rid of the ring leader (Ah Scam Rainsy). All of his funding came from drug dealing in AU, US, UK, and Canada.
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