Smuggling apart from drugs
Individual Documents
Description:
"MONGLA, Myanmar: Bentleys and BMW convertibles roll up to the "Venetian Casino" in Mongla on the Myanmar-China border, a melting pot of sex, drugs and gambling on a frontier that has also become a "supermarket" for illegally traded wildlife.
This area of Myanmar is largely self-governed -- lying within the country's borders but playing by its own rules, nestled in the eastern range of mountains and cut off from the rest of the country.
Instead, the region looks to China.
The yuan is the currency of choice, most people speak Mandarin and phones connect to Chinese, not Myanmar, networks. It is also the insatiable Chinese demand for illegal wildlife products that is driving the booming trade in Panghsang, a reclusive city to the north of Mongla in territory controlled by the ethnic Wa.
Tiger and leopard pelts are piled up in full view at streetside shops also displaying ivory, pangolin scales and stacked cages of rare birds.
Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) conservation director Nick Cox says the open sale of the illegal products is a problem "not just for Myanmar but for the region", calling it a "wildlife supermarket".
As night descends on the quiet streets of Panghsang, pockets of pink light illuminate the gloom -- emitted from the countless Chinese-branded massage parlours dotting the roads..."
Source/publisher:
"Bangkok Post" (Thailand) via AFP (France)
Date of publication:
2019-04-26
Date of entry/update:
2019-09-22
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Fauna of Burma's forests, Drugs: regional and global, Burma: drug production and trafficking, Gambling, Sex industry, Smuggling apart from drugs
Language:
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Description:
"Myanmar is a strategically relevant country in the illegal wildlife trade, nestled between several important source, transit and destination countries. Yet, as transportation infrastructure in the country and the region continues to improve and expand, the importance of Myanmar as a transit location for wildlife smuggling may also increase in the future.
As such, Myanmar's Customs officers have a vital role to play both at national and regional level, and increasing their capacity to detect, intercept and investigate wildlife smuggling is important to disrupt the operations of transboundary criminal syndicates.
In cooperation with the Myanmar Customs Department, UNODC organized a training course on "Risk Profiling to Enhance Interception of Illegal Wildlife Trade", which was held in Yangon from 8-10 August. Participants included Customs officers working at Yangon Port and Yangon International Airport, as well as some Police and Forestry Department officers.
"Building capacity for risk profiling is key for a more effective Customs inspection and screening process," said Mr. That Tun Aung, Director of the Prevention Division of Myanmar Customs Department. "Together with police and forestry officials, we will improve the monitoring of passengers and cargo to combat illegal wildlife trade."
During the course, participants discussed wildlife risk indicators that could be applied for air passengers, air cargo and sea cargo, and created risk profiles. A Thai Customs officer was invited to share the experience of Thai Customs in intelligence-led profiling, and proposed cooperation and information sharing between the two neighbouring Customs authorities. Participants also completed a series of practical exercises involving examination of shipping documents to target wildlife smuggling, and special investigation techniques that can be applied following a seizure..."
Source/publisher:
UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime)
Date of publication:
2018-08-10
Date of entry/update:
2019-06-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
UNODC Burma/Myanmar, Threats to the fauna of Burma, Border Trade with China, Smuggling apart from drugs
Language:
English
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Description:
Contents:
Foreword...
Executive summary ...
Introduction...
1 - Objective ....
2 - Methodology....
Part 1 - Myanmar?s cross-border trade....
1 - Impact of sanctions on cross-border trade....
2 - Local perceptions of cross-border trade....
3 - The context of informal/illegal cross-border trade ....
4 - Illegal versus illicit products....
5 - Costs and benefits of informal cross-border trade....
6 - Case studies related to cross-border trade and its effects......
Part 2 - Cross-border mobility
and human smuggling from Myanmar:
1 - Illegal border crossings...
2 - Causes and effects of cross-border mobility....
3 - Costs and benefits of mobility ....
Conclusion.....Executive summary:
"Myanmar, the second biggest country in terms of area in mainland
South East Asia, borders five neighboring countries: China, Thailand,
India, Bangladesh, and Lao PDR. Myanmar?s longest borders are with
China (approximately 1,357 miles) and Thailand (approximately
1,314 miles), and it shares coastal waters with Malaysia and Singapore.
Being a member of at least nine Asia and Pacific inter-governmental
organizations that include the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the Greater
Mekong Subregion (GMS), the UN Economic and Social Commission for
Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), the Asian Development Bank (ADB),
Upper Mekong Commercial Navigation, the Asia Pacific Fishery
Commission, Asia-Pacific Telecommunity (APT), and the Association of
South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), Myanmar is actively involved in
various economic cooperation programs.
However, the pace of Myanmar?s economic development still lags
behind that of other members in these organizations. In addition,
informal activities and informal moment of goods and people have been
quite significant due to many factors. Although various policy measures
have been developed to mitigate these informal activities, there has not
been any study regarding the sources of these informal activities, their
costs and benefits, impacts and consequences of the existence and nonexistence of these activities, or how these activities could be mitigated
without having significant negative economic and social impacts on the
local people and the economy as the whole.
Without knowing causes and effects, costs and benefits, and factors
behind informal activities, it is not simple to come up with restrictive
policies to control them. In some cases, restrictive policies have caused
severe adverse social and economic impacts on the community. Hence, it
is very important that proper research is conducted in order to identify multidimensional issues that could effectively be addressed by multidimensional policies through close cooperation among the stakeholders.
This paper attempts to identify factors behind causes and effects of
informal flows in goods and persons across the borders between
Myanmar and its neighboring countries, especially China and Thailand,
and to address related issues and possible policy implications."
Winston Set Aung
Source/publisher:
Irasec (Carnet de l?Irasec / Occasional Paper S?rie Observatoire / Observatory Series No 04)
Date of publication:
2011-06-00
Date of entry/update:
2012-09-20
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Labour migration: global and regional studies, Border Trade with Thailand, Smuggling apart from drugs
Language:
English
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Description:
Abstract:
"This paper examines the effects of import duties on smuggling in Myanmar. Following Fisman and Wei (2004), the reporting discrepancies between Myanmar?s imports records and corresponding exports recorded by trading partners are regarded as indicative of smuggling. The paper studies whether reporting discrepancies differ across trading partners as well as across time. Our main findings are first, that the hike in import duties in June 2004 helped to widen the reporting discrepancies, which suggests smuggling for tax evasion purposes and second, that reporting discrepancies differ considerably across trading partners: land borders appear to be particularly attractive venues for smugglers."
Keywords: Myanmar (Burma), smuggling, tax evasion, border trade
Koji KUBO, Nu Nu Lwin
Source/publisher:
Jetro/IDE (IDE Discussion Paper No. 258)
Date of publication:
2010-10-10
Date of entry/update:
2011-06-01
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Smuggling apart from drugs
Language:
English
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Description:
The increase in the rates of trafficking and smuggling from Burma in 2008 is testament to the
seriousness of the economic crisis that threatens to destabilize the country. More
importantly perhaps, it is also indicative of a country in which corruption is widespread and
lawlessness is pervasive. Lawlessness is especially apparent in ethnic rural areas suffering
from conflict and in remote mountainous areas. Transnational crime is estimated to be a
multi-billion dollar industry; however, Burma?s ?extra-legal economy, both black market and
illicit border trade, is reportedly so large that an accurate assessment of the size and
structure of the country?s economy is unavailable.” Live animals, commodities, drugs,
arms, and people, particularly women and children, were all trafficked or smuggled within
and from Burma in 2008. Known trafficking and smuggling destinations included: Thailand,
China, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Macau, South Korea, Pakistan, India, Laos, Vietnam,
Cambodia, Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam, and Japan.
Source/publisher:
Human Rights Docmentation Unit (HRDU)
Date of publication:
2009-11-23
Date of entry/update:
2009-12-05
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
792.6 KB
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