#Thailand’s ‘largest ketamine bust’ turns out to be cleaning solvent

Thailand authorities claimed to have made the “largest ketamine bust” in the country’s history earlier this month — only the “drugs” turned out to be a common cleaning solvent.

Justice Minister Somsak Thepsuthin said Tuesday that a “technical error” during field testing had led to the original false claim, the Bangkok Post reported.

“This was a misunderstanding that our agency must accept,” he told reporters.

The nation’s anti-narcotics agency on Nov. 12 had proudly announced the seizure of 11.5 tons of ketamine, a sedative used as a party drug, from a warehouse in the Chachoengsao province, close to Bangkok.

But lab tests later found that the powdery white substance was actually trisodium phosphate — a chemical compound commonly used as a cleaning agent, stain remover and even food additive.

At a press conference announcing the supposed historic seizure, the country’s Office of Narcotics Control Board said it had acted on a tip that a foreign drug network planned to smuggle the ketamine to Taiwan via Thailand, The Nation reported.

“The drugs are the largest amount ever seized in Thailand…,” Wichai Chaimongkhol, the agency’s secretary-general, had declared.

The justice minister explained Tuesday that the mix-up occurred because preliminary tests, which turn purple in the presence of ketamine, react the same to trisodium phosphate.

He later admitted that it “might have been premature to hold a press conference” at such an early stage.