A joint operation between Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Cambodian authorities has destroyed one of the world's largest illegal stockpiles of the oil used as a precursor to manufacture ecstacy.
AFP members travelled to Pursat in western Cambodia to help destroy a stockpile of safrole-rich oil which could have been used to produce 245 million MDMA (ecstasy) tablets with an estimated street value in Australia of $7.6 billion.
The team of four technicians and two forensic chemists from the AFP's Specialist Response Amphetamine Type Stimulants (SRATS) team began burning the 33-tonne stockpile of oil this week.
The burns of the 1,278 oil barrels took several days and were conducted in the early morning and evening because of the sweltering conditions in Cambodia at this time of year.
Cambodian authorities have been working since 2002 to stem the distillation of safrole-rich oil and since that time have succeeded in detecting and dismantling more than 50 clandestine laboratories capable of producing up to 60 litres a day.
The AFP's Tim Morris congratulated says the destruction of the oil was a significant blow to the trade of illicit drugs in the region.
"I commend the coordinated effort by Cambodian authorities to seize the oil, break the production chain and reduce the dependency on income from illegal drug manufacture," he said.
"This oil is not only a precursor in ecstasy production, it also has considerable social and ecological ramifications for Cambodia's people and environment.
"This oil is known to be carcinogenic and mutagenic and the people working in these clan labs are often Cambodia's poorest farmers."
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