Officials have found about 7,000 tonnes of carcinogenic cadmium waste at a warehouse in Ban Bueng district of Chon Buri, which are believed to have been illegally transferred from a warehouse in Samut Sakhon, where over 10,000 tonnes were reported to have gone missing.

Jullapong Thaveesri, director-general of Industrial Works Department, said yesterday that the department had received a tipoff that many large bags, containing cadmium slag, bearing markings similar to the bags found in Samut Sakhon, were stored at a warehouse in Khlong Kiew sub-district in Ban Bueng district of Chon Buri.

Officials from the Industrial Works Department and police from the Natural Resources and Environment Crime Division were dispatched to the warehouse yesterday. They estimate that there were more than 7,000 tonnes of cadmium waste and the warehouse was ordered closed.

Jullapong said that there are about 20 warehouses in the same compound and only four of them have operating licenses.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said in his “X” post today that he has instructed officials to dispose of the dangerous metal properly, to prevent it from leaking into the environment.

Officials from the Pollution Control Department have taken soil samples from areas around the warehouses for testing and health officials have checked the workers in the warehouses, with the results expected in the next few days, said the prime minister.

Cadmium slag found outside a warehouse in Samut Sakhon province has been moved into the warehouse, to prevent it from leaking into the environment, before all of it is transferred back to Tak province in the next seven days for proper disposal.