published : 18 Jan 2021 at 12:25
30 Reporters try to question k-powdered milk suspect Amornthep Chalermwat, alias Un Kiwi, (red shirt) after police take him into custody.
A man suspected of producing a deadly ketamine-based drug cocktail has been arrested in Phetchabun after he fled a police hunt in Bangkok, where many users have died after taking k-powdered milk .
Metropolitan Police Bureau (MPB) chief Pol Lt Gen Pakkapong Pongpetra said Amornthep Chalermwat, alias Un Kiwi, was arrested on Sunday at a room with no address in Bung Sam Phan district of Phetchabun, where he was staying with his former prison mate.
Investigators were confident the 33-year-old man was a mastermind in the mixing of the illicit drug cocktail, reported to contain ketamine, methamphetamine, heroin and the sedative diazepam.
The "k-powdered milk" drug, which has so far claimed nine lives, contains the tranquiliser diazepam but uses 20 times the safe amount, according to Justice Minister Somsak Thepsutin.
8 Sniffer dogs seek out illegal drugs on Monday in the area around Wat Phraya Krai in the capital on Monday. (Photo by Arnun Chonmahatrakool)
The Office of Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) is working closely with the Food and Drugs Administration and Customs Department to find the source of diazepam an anti-anxiety medication that was detected in the fatal ketamine cocktail known on the streets as k-nom pong .
At the same time, authorities are also looking into another ketamine concoction called Talaysai , after a friend of a victim that had overdosed on k-nom pong told police they were warned that it is much stronger than k-nom pong.
Deadly ketamine cocktail laced with 3 other drugs
24
published : 13 Jan 2021 at 05:00 Thanit: Combined effects can be fatal
A physician at the Police General Hospital who conducted a test on two samples of seized powdered milk ketamine , found near dead victims on Tuesday, revealed that the tests detected the presence of four substances ketamine, heroin, ecstasy and a sleeping pill called diazepam.
Pol Maj Gen Thanit Jirananthawat said the combined effects of the various drugs, which together harm human organs, can easily be fatal.
Meanwhile, Metropolitan Police Bureau chief Phukphong Phongpetra on Tuesday gave an update regarding investigations into the ketamine that has so far killed seven people.
39 Chatree Srisombat, 19, (in the Runner shirt) and Noppakao Obthom, 26, (in the hooded jacket) are escorted to Wat Phraya Krai police station on Wednesday. Mr Chatree was charged with selling the fatal k-powdered milk blend and Mr Noppakao with possessing the drug. (Photo by Arnun Chonmahatrakool)
Police are at their wit s end trying to find the producers of k-powdered milk , a new drug cocktail which is believed to have killed seven people in Bangkok.
Pol Col Thongchai Buarangsri, superintendent of Wat Phraya Krai station, said on Wednesday police have not yet found any credible evidence which points to the producers.
The superintendent added the three other people who became sick after taking the drug could not be questioned yet, as they are still hooked to ventilators.