Big drugs seizure a bust

The Thai government has admitted that 111⁄2 tonnes of chemicals seized by anti-narcotics police are not drugs worth more than NZ$1.34 billion, but a harmless stain remover. Justice Minister Somsak Thepsuthin admitted that rather than 29 billion baht worth of ketamine, the Narcotics Control Board had seized 475 sacks of trisodium phosphate, a legal chemical used as a food additive and cleaning agent. The mistake occurred after the seizure of the bags from a warehouse in Chachoengsao province in central Thailand. Only 66 of the 475 sacks have been checked, and testing is continuing in case the legal chemical is being used to hide the illicit one.