Regional News
Thai Officials Incinerate Over a Ton of Seized Drugs
Thailand incinerated about US$80 million (S$99.3 million) worth of drugs, mainly methamphetamine, from over 130,000 seizures across the country as officials warned there were an increasing number of very young users.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra presided over the drugs burning ceremony at an industrial estate in Ayutthaya, near Bangkok that destroyed 821kg (nearly a ton) of drugs, including about seven million tablets of methamphetamine, also known as yaba.
Quantities of heroin, opium, cocaine, marijuana and ecstasy were also set alight in high temperature furnaces that authorities said would prevent drug fumes from rising into the air.
More than 93,000 people have been treated in rehabilitation centres since October 2010, according to the public health ministry.