First chemical weapon destroyed at Kentucky Army facility

By The Associated Press | Posted: Wed 5:53 PM, Jun 12, 2019

https://www.wkyt.com/content/news/First-chemical-weapon-destroyed-at-Kentucky-Army-facility-511205491.html

RICHMOND, Ky. (AP) - Officials have begun destroying Cold-War era chemical weapons that have been stored at a Kentucky Army depot for decades.

The facility at the Blue Grass Army Depot successfully destroyed a mustard-agent munition on Friday in Richmond.

It marked the beginning of the facility's static detonation chamber operations, which will handle munitions that are unsuitable for automated destruction at the depot's pilot plant.

Last month, officials including U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell and Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin gathered at the depot to ceremonially mark the beginning of the destruction of the weapons.

The depot has a stockpile of about 523 tons of mustard, GB and VX nerve agent. The pilot plant was finished in 2015, but operators and staff trained for years to prepare for the destruction operations.

Soldiers, Police Seized 2.2 Million Meth Pills and 11 Kilos of Crystal Meth after High Speed Chase in Mae Chan District

June 13, 2019

CHIANG RAI – Army Cavalry soldiers and Thai police have seized more than 2 million meth pills and 11 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine after a high speed chase in Mae Chan district.

Officials told Thai media that soldiers from the Chiang Rai-based Second Cavalry unit were manning a check point Mae Fah Lung district, and spotted a Mitsubishi pickup parking on a roadside. When they tried to approach the vehicle is sped off towards Mae Chan district.

A team of police and soldiers gave chase on the Fang-Mae Chan road until they finally caught up with Mitsubishi pickup, abandoned on the side of the road in Tambon Mae Chan, Mae Chan district, at 12.30am.

Soldiers and police searched the abandoned vehicle and discovered unearthed 2.2 million meth pills packed into 15 bags, along with 11kg of “crystal meth.”

The seizure took place in the Thailand’s infamous Golden Triangle that borderlands of Thailand, Myanmar and Laos, and hides one of the world’s largest centers of Meth and heroin production and distribution.

Once inside Thailand, tonnes of highly addictive crystal meth, known as “ice”, and hundreds of millions of yaba pills caffeine-laced methamphetamine tablets guzzled by everyone from laborers to ravers are consumed or warehoused before being smuggled onwards.

A months-long Thai military-led crackdown in Chiang Rai’s “Golden Triangle” has blocked the quickest drug route south. But with big money to be made, the drug gangs have carved out new routes west and east through Laos and across the Mekong.

By Geoff Thomas

https://www.chiangraitimes.com/soldiers-police-seized-2-2-million-meth-pills-and-11-kilos-of-crystal-meth-after-high-speed-chase-in-mae-chan-district.html