Ketamine, one of the major ingredients in the “k-powdered milk” drug cocktail, has suddenly started vanishing from the market just as authorities start hunting it down after it was implicated in the deaths of 10 people.
The Secretary-General of the Office Narcotics Control Board (ONCB), Wichai Chaimongkhon, said officers were investigating suspected distribution channels of ketamine and another key ingredient, the anti-depressant diazepam.
Mr Chaimongkhon said yesterday that ketamine, known to have been circulating in the market had started disappearing and officers had found it strange they had found only one bag of it while arresting several people this month.
Initial inquiries had also found that a fake version of ketamine had been sold to some drug users instead, he said.
Lab tests have shown that k-powdered milk, also known as “k nom pong”, contains 4 major ingredients: ketamine, heroin, methamphetamine and diazepam.
Mr Chaimongkhon said he had instructed regional narcotics control offices to examine any suspicious parcels that might contain ketamine.
The ONCB chief has also asked the Customs Department to check at airports for air-freighted goods that were declared as being medication.
The Food and Drug Administration has asked pharmaceutical companies that import pure diazepam for drug manufacturing to step up measures to prevent the substance from being smuggled out.
5 companies in Thailand import diazepam and 25 local pharmaceutical companies produce it.
Mr Chaimongkhon said no diazepam had yet been found to have been smuggled into Thailand.
