Police Say Drugs Worth Nearly $2B Found Floating off Myanmar’s Coast

Description: 

"Nearly 3 trillion kyats (US$1.96 billion) worth of narcotics believed to be the methamphetamine known as ice were found adrift on Wednesday in the sea some 28 km from Bawa Thit Village-Tract in Pyapon Township, Ayeyarwady Region, police said. Fishermen found a large number of sacks adrift in the sea near Bawa Thit’s Ashae Pyar Village. The fishermen were able to salvage 23 of the sacks, which they handed over to their employers. When their employers opened the sacks, they found drugs and handed the sacks over to the police. “We assume those drugs are ice. We haven’t sent them yet to the lab but we are almost sure they are ice and we are conducting further investigations,” Colonel Shwe Thaung, head of the Ayeyarwady Region Police Force, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday. A total of 649 packs of drugs, each weighing 1 kg, worth a total of 2.92 trillion kyats were found in the 23 sacks, according to the police. The authorities said this was the largest seizure ever made in Ayeyarwady Region, in terms of the quantity and value of the drugs..."

Creator/author: 

Salai Thant Zin

Source/publisher: 

"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)

Date of Publication: 

2019-10-18

Date of entry: 

2019-11-09

Grouping: 

  • Individual Documents

Category: 

Countries: 

Myanmar

Administrative areas of Burma/Myanmar: 

Ayeyarwady Region

Language: 

English

Resource Type: 

text

Text quality: 

    • Good