Cambodia begins destroying largest stockpile of drug-making chemicals

KAMPONG SPEU, Cambodia (AP) - Officials began destroying Cambodia's largest seizure of drug-making chemicals Thursday, while acknowledging that the country has moved from being a transit point to a producer of illegal drugs.

Interior Minister Sar Kheng, wearing a head-to-toe protective suit, led Cambodian and U.N. drug officials in launching the destruction of almost 5 tons of chemicals, including nearly 3 tons of highly hazardous thionyl chloride used to produce amphetamine.

Authorities seized the substances during a raid in April on a laboratory on an isolated farm 100 kilometers (62 miles) west of Phnom Penh. It was Cambodia's first discovery of a laboratory producing synthesized drugs, Sar Kheng said.

"The laboratory is among the largest in Asia and instantly placed Cambodia on the map of drug producing countries,'' said Lars Pedersen, the representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Cambodia.

The destruction process began with diluting the thionyl chloride.

It takes up to two weeks for the chemical to be completely diluted, officials said.

Thionyl chloride is harmful to humans, animals and the environment, and may explode if it comes into contact with water or heat, Sar Kheng said.

He called on government agencies to tighten regulations on imports of chemicals that could be used to produce illegal drugs.

Pedersen said Cambodia received US$60,000 (euro44,525) each from Australia and the United States to help destroy the chemicals, and will need greater assistance from the international community to deal with drug problems.

Eighteen people, including three Chinese citizens and a Thai man, were arrested after the April raid and charged with producing and trafficking drugs and conspiracy to produce drugs.

The crimes are punishable by 20 years to life in prison.