[imagesource: European Photopress Agency]

Drug busts, especially large ones, are usually followed by some mandatory images of the relevant authorities inspecting the haul, after which a press conference is held announcing the success of the operation to search and then seize the narcotics.

Earlier this month, to much celebration, Thai officials declared the country’s largest-ever ketamine seizure, at upwards of 11,5 tonnes of the stuff.

You might know the drug as ‘special-K’, and the bust was estimated to be worth almost $1 billion based on retail price.

475 sacks were found inside a warehouse at tambon Tha Kham in the Bang Pakong district, with the white powder inside them turning the fluid used to test it purple.

Unfortunately, authorities jumped the gun on that one. While ketamine comes up purple when exposed to the fluid, it isn’t the only substance to do so.

Red-faced and a little sheepish, reports the BBC, another press conference was held almost two weeks later, to retract their former announcement after lab tests revealed the powder to be trisodium phosphate, commonly used as a cleaning agent.

Here’s Justice Minister Somsak Thepsuthin, who can be seen below inspecting things:

“This was a misunderstanding that our agency must accept,” Mr Somsak told reporters, adding that there was a “technical error in the field”, according to a Bangkok Post report.

Image: European Photopress Agency

More from the Bangkok Post:

“I accept the fact it might have been premature to hold a press conference to announce the seizure of a substance suspected to be a kind of drug.”

Image: European Photopress Agency

“But in this case, the ONCB [Office of the Narcotics Control Board] had been informed of the seizure of ketamine in Taiwan, investigated and found an undeniable link to it. It would have been a mistake if I did not make it public,” he said.

Next week, the ONCB will be organising a seminar on narcotic drugs that test purple, set to be attended by officials from the US Drug Enforcement Administration and other agencies.

The poor man who rented the warehouse fled before he could be captured.

Before the misunderstanding was revealed, authorities were compiling a case to apply for a court warrant for his arrest.

Not a good look.

[sources:bbc&bangkokpost]