Chiang Rai police arrest 28-year-old with ingredient for making yaba

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Chiang Rai police arrest 28-year-old with ingredient for making yaba
The Nation



CHIANG RAI: -- Police yesterday announced the arrest of a 28-year-old drug suspect caught in possession of 80 bottles of hydrochloric acid, which could reportedly be used to make 30 million yaba (methamphetamine) pills.

Lek Namwong was nabbed at a checkpoint in Mae Salong Nai in Mae Fah Luang while driving a pickup, allegedly on his way to deliver the acid to a drug-ring member in Ban Therd Thai on the border. Lek reportedly told police he was hired to deliver "toilet-cleaning fluid" for Bt1,500.


-- The Nation 2013-11-15

[tominbkk]

[djvolak]

Are they talking about hydroiodic acid? I think you could use hydrochloric to regulate the PH during the manufacture process but it is really not a main ingredient like hydroiodic would definitely be. Good catch though.

[Redhawk]

As these guys need to be taken out of the streets and it is a good catch, the offcials still do not get it here, as much as the you pay attention to these criminals by news and public address through it, you will always get followers, these picture put the criminals into a heroic light and you produce copycats. Again the good work is destroyed by profile neurosis suffering BIB!

[sceadugenga]

Hydrochloric Acid is a general purpose acid used for a number of common procedures.

As djvolak says, I used to buy it by the gallon to regulate the ph of my swimming pool back in another life.

[SOTIRIOS]

...wouldn't have been better if they let the guy arrive at his destination.....then nab all of them....???

[sceadugenga]

What makes you think that he wont tell them where "all of them" are anyway?

[wileycoyote]

What makes you think that he wont tell them where "all of them" are anyway?

Well said

Lock them all up & throw away the key !

[NeverSure]

I don't see, lacking other evidence, how hydrochloric acid by itself could be considered related to drugs. It takes a lot of materials to make meth, and none of them by itself is unusual or illegal. Hydrochloric acid isn't even needed to make meth. Other acids including sulfuric acid will do just as well.

It certainly isn't true that those bottles of acid could be used to make pills, much less a lot of them unless quite a number of other chemicals and the cooking and treating equipment were available.

As another poster said, the acid is commonly used to adjust the PH in hot tubs and swimming pools, and does indeed make a good toilet cleaner if the toilet has a ring caused by naturally occurring calcium in the water.

I hope there's more to this story than just finding the bottles.