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FFI helps fight drug crime in Cambodian rainforest

25/06/2008

Ecstasy ingredient confiscated and burned, thanks to FFI’s work to protect Cardamom Mountains forests

FFI has been instrumental in anti-drug enforcement efforts in Cambodia, leading to the recent confiscation of 33 tonnes of sassafras oil, a raw ingredient of the drug ecstasy.

The confiscated oil was burned at a special public ceremony organised by the Cambodian government and Australian Federal Police.

Tim Morris, AFP Assistant Commissioner for Border and International, said that the oil “would have produced, by our calculations, 245 million ecstasy tablets”. He added that the tablets could have fetched as much as US$7bn on the street.

Sassafras oil, produced by boiling the roots of rare Mreah Prew Phnom trees, is illegally distilled in the jungles of South-West Cambodia and exported to neighbouring countries for processing into a chemical used to make ecstasy tablets. To make matters worse, the distillation process itself pollutes nearby rivers and uses enormous quantities of fuel wood from other rainforest trees.

Most of the sassafras oil burned at the recent ceremony was originally confiscated in enforcement operations co-led by FFI. In Phnom Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary (western Cardamom Mountains), where most Mreah Prew Phnom trees remain, FFI supports 49 well-trained Ministry of Environment rangers recruited from local communities.

Recent aerial surveys indicate no active Mreah Prew Phnom processing plants remain, indicating the relatively small team has been remarkably successful in fighting this major threat to the rainforest.

Download the full media release.

For further information, please contact:
Rebecca Foges
Communications Officer
Tel: +44 (0)1223 579 491
rebecca.foges@fauna-flora.org