Cambodia destroys 30 tonnes of safrole-rich oil, key ingredient of Ecstasy

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Cambodian authorities working with Australian police have destroyed an enormous stockpile of safrole-rich oil, a key ingredient used in producing the synthetic drug Ecstasy.

Officials say the 30 tonnes of oil could have produced 245 million tablets of the drug with a potential street value of $7.3 billion.

The oil - extracted from the roots of the sassafras tree - was burned over a three-day period that began on Wednesday.

Lt.-Gen. Lour Ramin of the Cambodia police says members of the Australian Federal Police oversaw the burning of the oil in a remote village in Cambodia's Pursat province, about 160 kilometres northwest of the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh.

Australian officials say Cambodian authorities have been working since 2002 to stem distillation of the oil.

In addition to cracking down on the drug trade, they are trying to preserve the sassafras tree, a rare species that grows mainly in Cambodia's Cardamom Mountains. Officials say that in order to distill oil from the roots, the entire tree is cut down.

Philip Hunter, an official from Australian Federal Police, said the destruction of the oil "was a significant blow to the trade of illicit drugs in the region."

"These seizures demonstrate that Cambodia faces the challenges of suppressing drug production for regional export, as well as challenges faced as a transit centre for regional and international drug market,"

At the request of the Cambodian government, an Australian police team of four technicians and two forensic chemists travelled to Pursat province this week to help destroy the oil.