Nakhon Phanom: The provincial office has incinerated 8,700kg of dried cannabis, worth more than 200 million baht, the largest amount destroyed in the province for 10 years.
The incineration at the central sports stadium in Muang district was attended by senior provincial officials. The event, led by provincial governor Somchai Witdumrong, was held to observe the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.
A provincial source said the amount of cannabis incinerated Tuesday was the largest in a decade. There has been a jump in the amount of dried cannabis seized in Nakhon Phanom since the province became a major transit point for smuggled illicit drugs.
Last year, the province reported 2,743 drug offenders were caught with 2,889kg of dried cannabis confiscated. So far this year, a total of 9,045kg of cannabis has been intercepted, along with 224kg of crystal meth, or ya ice.
The source said the cannabis was smuggled into Thailand typically on long-tail boats from across the Mekong River. The drugs would be placed in a transit warehouse before being transported to other provinces for distribution. Local security authorities have conducted many joint sting operations which managed to intercept a lot of shipments in the past few months, according to the source.
Mr Somchai said Tuesday Nakhon Phanom has recorded many drug trafficking arrests and confiscated large consignments of illegal drugs.
The rise in drug smuggling in the area was attributed to tough crackdowns launched along the border areas of the North. Many smugglers have since shifted routes to the Northeast.
