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Reuters-Myanmar seizes heroin, arre



Reply-To: "TIN KYI" <tinkyi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Reuters-Myanmar seizes heroin, arrests three Singaporeans 

Myanmar seizes heroin, arrests three Singaporeans
01:11 a.m. Nov 10, 1999 Eastern
YANGON, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Myanmar said on Wednesday it had arrested three
Singaporean Chinese men at Yangon airport on suspicion of trafficking 5.7 kg
(12.5 pounds) of heroin.

The government's official New Light of Myanmar newspaper said the men were
arrested at the airport while trying to fly to the Malaysian capital of
Kuala Lumpur on a Malaysian Airlines flight.

The newspaper said the heroin was found in the possession of two of the
Singaporeans and a third was arrested later for collaborating in the
trafficking.

The three men had been charged under Myanmar's Narcotics, Drugs and
Psychotropic Substances Law, which carries a maximum penalty of death. Death
sentences are almost always commuted to life imprisonment in Myanmar.

It is the second time in two weeks that heroin has been seized from
Singaporeans at Yangon airport, officials said.

On October 28, Myanmar authorities seized five kg (11 pounds) of the drug
from two Singaporeans waiting to take a Thai Airways flight to Bangkok.

Drug agencies say Singaporeans are sometimes used as couriers for drug
trafficking because Singapore has a squeaky-clean reputation and is known to
crack down hard on drugs.

Myanmar authorities seized a total of 404 kg (888.8 pounds) of heroin in
1,425 cases in 1998.