Thank you Australian Fed Police for burning carcinogenic sassafras oil in Cambodia

The "ecstasy oil" goes up in smoke in Cambodia. (Photo: Australian Federal Police)

$7b 'ecstasy oil' stash goes up in smoke

June 20, 2008
Daniel Emerson
The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)

Mr Morris admitted the substance was carcinogenic and the thick plume of smoke produced during the burn was not good for the environment

It's put a huge dent in the global manufacture of ecstasy but it's done the environment no good at all.

Australia Federal Police say they have destroyed a stockpile of a substance capable of creating $7.6 billion worth of the illegal drug.

Six AFP officers travelled to Cambodia this week to help burn more than 1000 drums of oil rich in a substance called safrole, which could have been used to make 245 million ecstasy tablets.

AFP assistant commissioner Tim Morris admitted the substance was carcinogenic and the thick plume of smoke produced during the burn was not good for the environment.

"But there doesn't seem to be any other way to dispose of this chemical and it was done in a remote area away from the population," he said.

He said four technicians and two forensic chemists were working in shifts helping Cambodian authorities burn 33 tonnes of the oil this week at Pursat, 170 kilometres west of the capital, Phnom Penh.

He said the AFP had been helping train the Cambodians in safely dealing with volatile clandestine drug laboratories when the Asian authorities realised their Australian counterparts could help them dispose of the drums seized during raids.

"It's incredible isn't it?" Mr Morris said. "It's a huge amount, there's no doubt about that.

"The majority of this [substance] would have been moved into neighbouring counties for further processing and it's certainly likely that this safrole would have been used in the production of ecstasy that would have ended up in Australia, for sure."

The AFP supplied the special equipment used in the burn, including chemical suits, breathing apparatus, decontamination showers, air compressors, generators and gas monitoring and analysis equipment.

The sweltering conditions meant the burning of the 1278 drums could only take place early in the morning or in the evening because the officers had to work in the hot full-length suits.

Safrole-rich oil is derived from the roots of two varieties of the sassafras tree, a rare species in Cambodia which only grows in the Cardamom Mountains in the country's south-west near the Thailand border.

Mr Morris said the Cambodian authorities were keen to stamp out the safrole trade because the sassafras tree was endangered and it was poor villagers who were invariably involved in handling it in clandestine laboratories which often exploded.

He said the Cambodian authorities had dismantled more than 50 clandestine laboratories and arrested 60 to 100 people involved in safrole production in the past few years.

Australian Federal Police wipes out stockpile of ecstasy oils in Cambodia

AFP wipes out stockpile of ecstasy oils

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.