Officials incinerate fake drugs

Photo by: Kim Sovannara
A police officer inspects a pile of counterfeit pharmaceuticals yesterday before officials destroyed the haul by setting it on fire.

via Khmer NZ

Tuesday, 10 August 2010 15:03 Kim Yuthana and Tep Nimol

POLICE yesterday destroyed about 19 tonnes of fake pharmaceutical drugs confiscated from city pharmacies and drug smugglers, officials said.

Mok Chito, director of the Interior Ministry’s criminal police, said expired drugs and chemical-laced foods were also burned during a blaze at the Choeung Ek dumpsite yesterday morning.

“These fake drugs are very dangerous to people’s health if they are circulated at markets,” he said. “We have collected them since March this year in order to burn them.”

He said most of the drugs had been smuggled into Cambodia from China and called for all users of medicines to be careful.

The destruction of the drugs came as Ke Kim Yan, chairman of the National Authority for Combating Drugs, led a 22-member delegation to Vietnam in an effort to strengthen the cooperation between the two countries’ anti-drug authorities.

“The official visit ... was made in an attempt to strengthen bilateral cooperation on the issue of illegal drugs, and to exchange experience between the two countries,” said Neak Yuthea, director of the ministry’s Department of Legislation, Education and Rehabilitation.

Figures released by the NACD last week showed that the number of drug users in the Kingdom had fallen to 5,700 this year, representing a drop of 300 users from 2009 figures.

Neak Yuthea said the dip was the result of the migration of some drug users, coupled with a growing awareness of the dangers of illegal drug use.