An examination of storage facilities containing cancer-causing cadmium waste in Samut Sakhon province found that approximately 10,000 tonnes are missing.
Industry Minister Pimpatra Wichaikul, who visited a warehouse on Friday, disclosed that the amount of stored cadmium waste did not match the transfer permits issued to a company in Tak province.
“The original company in Tak was authorized to transfer around 13,000 tonnes of cadmium waste, but we only found 2,440 tonnes of waste in the warehouses,” Pimpatra said.
The waste was moved from Tak to Samut Sakhon in August last year. Preliminary investigations indicate that the company in Samut Sakhon is licensed to operate in this industry.
Pimpatra assigned provincial industrial officials to locate the missing cadmium waste and she confirmed that the Samut Sakhon governor had ordered the waste to be returned to Tak, even though the Tak company has a valid license to transfer the waste.
Meanwhile, officials from the Primary Industries and Mines Department in Tak visited the source company’s site and discovered that it was no longer in operation and its buildings had already been taken down.
However, there were signs of cadmium waste remaining, so they gathered samples for analysis.
