Amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) - Myanmar

expand all
collapse all

Individual Documents

Title: Bangladesh: Drugs worth $1.8M seized on Myanmar border
Sub-title: Smugglers escaped leaving behind 520,000 Yaba pills, arms, says official statement
Description: "Bangladesh's border security forces on Sunday seized a huge quantity of narcotics worth $1.8 million in a pre-dawn raid on Myanmar border, an official statement said. On a tip off, the Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) raided a suspected boat in Naf River, which flows between Cox's Bazar district, and Myanmar's Rakhine state. The smugglers opened fire, and managed to escape but left behind a haul of Yaba drug tablets, the BGB statement said, adding that there were three to four persons on the boat. As many as 520,000 Yaba pills worth $1.764 million in the local Bangladeshi market were confiscated. A rifle, bullets and sharp metal knives were also seized. A criminal case has been registered, and manhunt for drug traffickers is underway. Naf River has seemingly turned into a hotbed for smugglers and other cross-border criminals. Security forces confiscated over a million Yaba tablets worth $3.3 million in local market in two raids on Jan. 12 and Jan. 17 in the same area. Thousands of people, particularly young Bangladeshis, have become hooked on red or pink Yaba pills in recent years, despite efforts against its use and smuggling. Yaba is a combination of methamphetamine and caffeine, and is said to be manufactured illicitly in Myanmar..."
Source/publisher: "Anadolu Agency" (Ankara)
Date of publication: 2021-01-17
Date of entry/update: 2021-01-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Large haul of narcotic drugs seized in Myanmar's eastern state
Description: "Myanmar authorities seized a large haul of narcotic drugs in the eastern Shan state, according to a statement from the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control (CCDAC) on Wednesday. The security forces made a seizure during their operation near Yaypusan village in Tachileik township on Tuesday. About 1.9 million of stimulants worth over 2.9 billion kyats (2.1 million U.S. dollars), 20 kg of stimulants worth 300 million kyats (214,285 U.S. dollars) and materials used in making drugs were confiscated. Further investigation is underway to capture the suspects under the country's Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law, the statement said. According to the latest statistics released by the President's Office on Monday, a total of 1,210 drug-related cases were registered across Myanmar, while 1,869 people were charged in connection with the cases as of June 27, since the formation of the Drug Activity Special Complaint Department on June 26, 2018..."
Source/publisher: "Xinhua" (China)
Date of publication: 2020-07-01
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: 17.6 kg of heroin, stimulants seized in Myanmar's northwestern state
Description: " Myanmar authorities seized 17.6 kilograms of heroin and 125,400 stimulants in Sagaing region, according to a release from the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control (CCDAC) on Thursday. Acting on a tip-off, the anti-narcotic police force made a seizure during their operation in Pinlebu township on Wednesday. Heroin worth 1.76 billion kyats (1.25 million U.S. dollars) and stimulants worth 627 million kyats (447,857 U.S. dollars) were confiscated from a car along with four suspects. The township police filed a case against the suspects and further investigation is underway under the country's Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law, the release said. According to a latest release issued by the President's Office on Monday, a total of 1,196 drug-related cases were registered across Myanmar while 1,846 people were charged in connection with the cases as of June 20 this year, since the formation of the Drug Activity Special Complaint Department on June 26, 2018..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Xinhua" (China)
Date of publication: 2020-06-26
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-26
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Huge fentanyl haul seized in Asia's biggest-ever drugs bust
Sub-title: The massive haul raises fears that the opioid crisis ravaging the US may emerge in Asia
Description: "Myanmar police say they have seized a huge haul of liquid fentanyl, the first time one of the dangerous synthetic opioids that have ravaged North America has been found in Asia’s Golden Triangle drug-producing region. In a signal that Asia’s drug syndicates have moved into the lucrative opioid market, Reuters can reveal more than 3,700 litres of methylfentanyl was discovered by anti-narcotics police near Loikan village in Shan State in northeast Myanmar. The seizure of the fentanyl derivative was part of Asia’s biggest-ever interception of illicit drugs, precursors and drug-making equipment, including 193 million methamphetamine tablets known as yaba. At 17.5 tonnes, the yaba almost equalled the amount seized in the previous two years in Myanmar. The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said the scale of the bust was unprecedented and Myanmar’s anti-drug authorities had “dismantled a significant network” during a two-month operation involving police and military. Also seized were almost 163,000 litres and 35.5 tonnes of drug precursors, as well as weapons. There were more than 130 arrests. Even so, the methylfentanyl discovery was an ominous indicator for the region’s illicit drug market, the U.N. agency and a Western official based in Myanmar told Reuters. “It could be a game-changer because fentanyl is so potent that its widespread use would cause a major health concern for Myanmar and the region,” said the Western official, who declined to be identified..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2020-05-20
Date of entry/update: 2020-05-31
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Stimulants worth over 13 mln USD seized in Myanmar
Description: "Myanmar authorities seized a large haul of stimulants in Rakhine state, according to a release from the Office of the Commander-in-Chief of the Defense Services on Sunday. Acting on tip-offs, the security force raided a house in Maung Taw Township on Saturday. Stimulants worth over 14.2 billion kyats (over 10 million U.S. dollars) were confiscated from the house and two suspects were held. The township police filed a case against the suspects under the country's Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law, the release said. On the same day, stimulants worth over 4.8 billion kyats (over 3.2 million U.S. dollars) were seized in Tachileik township of the Shan state. According to a latest release issued by the President's Office, a total of 1,136 drug-related cases were registered across Myanmar while 1,745 suspects were charged in connection with the cases as of May 23 this year, since the formation of the Drug Activity Special Complaint Department on June 26, 2018..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Xinhua" (China)
Date of publication: 2020-05-31
Date of entry/update: 2020-05-31
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Large haul of stimulants, ICE seized in Myanmar's eastern state
Description: "Myanmar authorities seized large haul of stimulants and methamphetamine (ICE) in Shan state, according to a release from the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control (CCDAC) on Sunday. Acting on tip-offs, the anti-narcotic police force stoped and searched a car travelling to Moe Mate township from Mantong township on Saturday, and 168,000 stimulants worth 336 million kyats (240,000 U.S. dollars) were confiscated from the car along with one suspect. The township police filed a case against the suspect and further investigation is underway under the country's Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law, the release said. On Friday, 124 kg of methamphetamine (ICE) and 248,000 stimulants were seized from a car in Ywangan township of the same state. According to a latest release issued by the President's Office, a total of 1,123 drug-related cases were registered across Myanmar while 1,724 suspects were charged in connection with the cases as of May 16 this year, since the formation of the Drug Activity Special Complaint Department on June 26, 2018..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Xinhua" (China)
Date of publication: 2020-05-24
Date of entry/update: 2020-05-25
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Record-breaking Myanmar drug busts show Asia’s crime syndicates still on the rise
Topic: Drugs Trade
Topic: Drugs Trade
Description: "In what may be Southeast Asia’s largest drug bust, authorities in Myanmar have announced the seizure of 35.5 tons of methamphetamine and other drugs and 163,000 liters of precursor chemicals in northeastern Myanmar’s Shan State. The seizures, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, took place in the area around Kutkai township between February 20 and April 9. Drug labs in Shan State have become a primary source of narcotics for the entire Asia-Pacific region in recent years. An international investigation recently identified the dominant force behind this trade as a single crime syndicate known as Sam Gor. There are no reports as to whether the recent seizures are connected to this organization, but from what authorities have disclosed, Southeast Asia’s drug syndicates are producing and trafficking drugs on such a scale that a few dozen tons are an acceptable loss. The operations in Shan seized 193 million “yaba” methamphetamine tablets—nearly 18 tons of meth—as well as over 500 kilograms of crystal meth, 630 kilograms of ephedrine, 588 kilograms of opium and 292 kilograms of heroin. The quantity of methamphetamine found is nearly double the total amount seized by the Myanmar government in 2018 or 2019. Authorities also seized over 3,500 liters of liquid methylfentanyl, which is used to make fentanyl, a deadly synthetic opioid that is reportedly fifty times stronger than heroin and lethal in doses as small as two milligrams. Fentanyl was partially to blame for three drug overdoses in Bangkok late last year. The incident has led some to believe that fentanyl is now in the heroin supply of the Thai capital. “We can today confirm that drug production and trafficking in and through Shan is not what some have been thinking; it is more than meth tablets and crystal and has evolved to synthetic opioids on a scale nobody anticipated,” said Jeremy Douglas, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Regional Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific..."
Source/publisher: "ASEAN Today" (Singapore)
Date of publication: 2020-05-20
Date of entry/update: 2020-05-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Wa State Hands Drug Suspect and Meth Bust to Myanmar Authorities
Description: "The United Wa State Army (UWSA) on Wednesday handed over a drug trafficker it arrested along with 3.5 million methamphetamine pills in the south of the Wa self-administered zone. “The handover took place in Hui-au, in our controlled area of southern Wa State. We have also handed over other detainees to the government after previous arrests,” UWSA external relations officer Nyi Rang told The Irrawaddy. In response to a drug trafficking tipoff, a USWA battalion searched the Lwel Htwe mountain range about 5 km from the Thai border, he said. The UWSA said it found around 40 suspected drug smugglers, who opened fire on the troops. After exchanging fire, one suspect was killed and another was detained alive, according to the UWSA. The armed group said it seized around 3,510,000 meth pills. “We carried out an interrogation. The others fled and the case is not over so it is inappropriate to reveal the details but most of the suspects were from Myanmar’s territory,” said Nyi Rang. Myanmar’s military and police took part in the handover, said military spokesman Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun. “As it is an area held by an EAO [ethnic armed organization], we assisted the police. The police will open a case,” he said..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication: 2020-05-22
Date of entry/update: 2020-05-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: South-east Asia's biggest synthetic drugs raid: 200m meth tablets found in Myanmar
Sub-title: Thousands of litres of methyl fentanyl point to ‘unprecedented’ production of opioids in so-called Golden Triangle area
Description: "Myanmar has made south-east Asia’s largest-ever seizure of synthetic drugs in raids that revealed “unprecedented” production of opioids in the area, the UN has said. Between February and April, authorities swooped on labs in the lawless Kutkai area of Shan state, seizing nearly 200m meth tablets, 500kg (1,100lbs) of crystal meth, 300kg of heroin, and 3,750 litres of methyl fentanyl. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) described the haul as one of the largest and most successful counter-narcotics operations in the history of the region. “What has been unearthed through this operation is truly off the charts,” Jeremy Douglas, the UNODC south-east Asia and Pacific representative said in a statement. The production network could have been possible only with the backing of serious transnational criminal groups, he added. The raids unearthed “unprecedented” methyl fentanyl, the sign of a new trend of synthetic opioid production emerging “on a scale nobody anticipated”, said Douglas. Fifty times stronger than heroin and up to 100 times more potent than morphine, fentanyl can be lethal from as little as two milligrams – the equivalent of a few grains of sand. It has fuelled an opioid crisis in the US that killed 32,000 people in 2018. Myanmar is under pressure to stem the deluge of drugs from its border regions. Shan state is part of the “Golden Triangle” – a wedge of land cutting into Myanmar, Laos, China and Thailand and virtually untroubled by authorities despite the multi-billion dollar trade..."
Source/publisher: "Agence France-Presse" (Paris) via "South China Morning Post" (Hong Kong)
Date of publication: 2020-05-19
Date of entry/update: 2020-05-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Over 487,000 stimulants seized in Myanmar's western state
Description: " Myanmar authorities seized over 487,000 stimulants in Rakhine State, according to a release from the Ministry of Home Affairs on Sunday. Acting on tip-offs, the anti-narcotic police force stoped and searched a vehicle in Maung Taw Township on Saturday. A total of 487,500 stimulants were confiscated from the vehicle and one suspect was arrested. The township police filed a case against the suspect under the country's relevant law, the release said. According to the latest release issued by the President's Office, a total of 1,102 drug-related cases were registered across Myanmar while 1,689 suspects were charged as of May 9, since the formation of the Drug Activity Special Complaint Department on June 26, 2018..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Xinhua" (China)
Date of publication: 2020-05-17
Date of entry/update: 2020-05-18
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Tanintharyi Region a new hotspot for crystal meth trafficking
Sub-title: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime report reveals crime syndicates are seeking out new routes through Myanmar in response to law enforcement efforts in northern Thailand.
Description: "Tanintharyi Region has become a major new trafficking route for syndicates producing crystal methamphetamine in northern Shan State as they respond to law enforcement efforts in northern Thailand, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says. The UNODC said last year that Southeast Asia's drug gangs are making over US$60 billion a year pumping out record amounts of methamphetamine, with northern Shan State the epicentre of the global meth trade. But law enforcement efforts in northern Thailand have forced crime syndicates like Sam Gor to diversify their trafficking routes, UNODC said in the report Synthetic Drugs in East and Southeast Asia: Latest Developments and Challenges released on Friday. This was borne out in Myanmar’s figures for seizures of crystal meth – also known as “ice” – which are often used as a proxy for production. The data shows that the proportion of crystal meth seizures in Shan State relative to the rest of Myanmar fell from 98.2 percent to 44.2pc in 2019. In contrast, seizures in Tanintharyi Region rose from negligible levels to account for 33.4pc of all seizures in Myanmar last year, based on government figures. Seizures of crystal meth were also up in Yangon (8pc of total seizures), Ayeyarwady Region (7.6pc) and Kayah State (5.3pc), again from almost nothing the previous year. Thai seizures data reflects the shift, with western rather than northern Thailand now the main gateway into Thailand, from where the crystal meth goes to places like Australia, New Zealand and Japan. Syndicates are also increasingly trafficking from Shan State into Laos and Vietnam, and from there to other markets. “We should not underestimate the flexibility of organised crime groups,” Mr Inshik Sim, a UNODC drug programme analyst, said at a live-streamed launch of the report. “They are very agile and know how to respond to changes.”..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2020-05-16
Date of entry/update: 2020-05-17
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Over 17 tonnes of smuggled meat seized in China's border province
Description: "Police in southwest China's Yunnan Province have seized a total of 17.66 tonnes of frozen meat in a recent smuggling case, local authorities said Sunday. After receiving a tip-off on April 16, police in Longyang district in the China-Myanmar border city of Baoshan inspected two suspected trucks in a local parking lot. Police officers checked the trucks and found a large amount of meat. Both drivers were unable to provide legal certificates for the meat. Further investigation into the case is underway..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Xinhua" (China)
Date of publication: 2020-05-10
Date of entry/update: 2020-05-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar sailors arrested in China for smuggling
Description: "MANDALAY-The Myanmar Embassy in Beijing released a statement that the Shanghai Maritime Bureau arrested seven Myanmar sailors working on Hong Yi ship near the Jetty in Shanghai on April 28th for smuggling. The Myanmar embassy in Beijing is now coordinating with the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, provincial security departments, police departments and detention camps over the arrests of Myanmar sailors. There have been cases in which Myanmar sailors were arrested in China as they worked on ships carrying illegal goods, according to a statement released by the Myanmar embassy in Beijing. Most of the Myanmar seamen were arrested for various reasons in China because they worked on the vessels carrying illegal goods. There are 74 Myanmar sailors arrested in China for smuggling. Those detainee Myanmar sailors are in 18 detention centers including the prisons in the eight provinces in China. Moreover, their health conditions are stable. The embassy has urged Myanmar sailors, shipping agencies and relevant organizations to launch educational campaigns and distribute notices for sailors against working on ships carrying illegal goods..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Eleven Media Group" (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2020-05-07
Date of entry/update: 2020-05-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: ‘They're fearless’: the women battling to free Myanmar from meth
Description: "From jungle stakeouts to burning drug dealers’ property, a group of mothers is willing to do whatever it takes to free their community from addiction Sister Ester keeps several small plastic bags of colourful methamphetamine – or meth – tablets beside her bed, along with a pistol and a plastic box of bullets. “All of these items were seized by our group in raids on houses selling drugs over the past few weeks,” she says. A Christian ethnic Kachin nurse in her 60s, she says she has nowhere else to keep the haul. “The safest way is to keep them with us until we can destroy them,” she says. Ester says she is ready to sacrifice her life to eradicate the crisis destroying lives in her remote town in Myanmar’s north-eastern Shan state, on the border with China. Advertisement A senior nurse providing healthcare to the people of Mone Paw village in Muse township, Ester also leads an anti-drug movement called Hkam Sha Hpung, which translates from the Kachin language as “those who can’t stand the situation”. The group calls itself “group of mothers” in Burmese..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Guardian" (UK)
Date of publication: 2020-05-07
Date of entry/update: 2020-05-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Over 4.9 million of stimulants seized in Myanmar’s western state
Description: "Myanmar authorities seized over 4.9 million of stimulants in Rakhine State, according to a release from the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control (CCDAC) on Tuesday. Acting on tip-offs, the joint anti-narcotic police force confiscated over 4.9 million of stimulants from a warehouse along with one suspect in Maung Daw Township on Monday. The township police filed a case against the suspect and further investigation is underway under the country’s Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law, the release said. Myanmar authorities also detained 19,200 litres of Hydrochloric acid, 25,600 litres of Acetone and 25,600 litres of Ethyl Acetate from three trucks in Mong Naung Township of Shan State on Sunday, the release added. According to a release issued by the President’s Office on Tuesday, a total of 1,002 drug-related cases were registered across Myanmar while 1,544 suspects were charged in connection with the cases as of Feb. 29 this year, since the formation of the Drug Activity Special Complaint Department in 2018..."
Source/publisher: "Xinhua" (China)
Date of publication: 2020-03-03
Date of entry/update: 2020-03-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Over 9kg of ICE, stimulants seized in eastern Myanmar
Topic: Myanmar Cops, Seize, Ice Drug Bust
Topic: Myanmar Cops, Seize, Ice Drug Bust
Description: "Myanmar authorities seized large amount of methamphetamine (ICE) and stimulants in Shan state, said a release from the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control (CCDAC) on Tuesday (Feb 25). Acting on tip-offs, the joint anti-narcotic police force confiscated 9 kilograms of methamphetamine (ICE) from two cars along with three suspects in Tachileik Township on Monday. The township police filed a case against the suspects under the country's Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law, the release said. According to the release, a total of 202,000 stimulants were also seized in Minekok Township of Shan State on Sunday and township police filed a case for further investigation to capture the suspects. According to a release issued by the President's Office late Monday, a total of 990 drug-related cases were registered across Myanmar while 1,525 suspects were charged in connection with the cases as of Feb. 22 this year. - Xinhua/Asian News Network..."
Source/publisher: "The Star Online" (Selangor)
Date of publication: 2020-02-25
Date of entry/update: 2020-02-26
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Large amount of narcotic drugs seized in eastern Myanmar
Description: "Myanmar authorities seized large amount of narcotic drugs including 3.3 kilograms of heroin, 8 kilograms of opium and 580,000 stimulant tablets in Shan State, a release from the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control (CCDAC) said on Monday. Acting on a tip-off, an anti-drug squad stopped and searched a car that was travelling from Mongmit to Mabein Township on Sunday. Heroin worth 627 million kyats (418,000 U.S. dollars), soap boxes filled with opium worth 64 million kyats (42,666 U.S. dollars) and stimulants worth 1.16 billion kyats (7.7 million U.S. dollars) were seized from the car. The township police had filed a case against the suspects under the country's Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law, the release said..."
Source/publisher: "Xinhua" (China)
Date of publication: 2020-02-17
Date of entry/update: 2020-02-18
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: 6.6kg of heroin, stimulants seized in Northern Myanmar
Description: "Myanmar authorities have seized a large haul of narcotic drugs including 6.6 kg of heroin and 89,300 stimulant tablets in Sagaing region, according to a release from the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control (CCDAC) on Sunday. The confiscation was made by a joint police force in Indaw Township on Friday. Soap boxes filled with heroin worth 660 million kyats (US$440,000) and stimulants worth 446.5 million kyats (US$297,666) were seized from a car. The township police filed a case against the suspect who ran away from the scene under the country's Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law, the release said. The seizure also comes after Myanmar authorities had seized a large haul of narcotic drugs including 22kg of heroin and 549,000 stimulant tablets in Mandalay region on Thursday. The seizure was made by a joint police force in Kyaukse township on Monday. That times, the haul saw soapboxes filled with heroin worth 1.54 billion kyats (US$1.02mil) and stimulants worth 2.74 billion kyats (US$1.83mil) were confiscated from a car and a bush nearby where the car parked in the township..."
Source/publisher: "The Star Online" (Selangor)
Date of publication: 2020-02-16
Date of entry/update: 2020-02-17
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: 22 kg of heroin, stimulants seized in central Myanmar
Description: "Myanmar authorities seized a large haul of narcotic drugs including 22 kilograms of heroin and 549,000 stimulant tablets in Mandalay region, according to a release from the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control (CCDAC) on Wednesday. The seizure was made by a joint police force in Kyaukse township on Monday. Soap boxes filled with heroin worth 1.54 billion kyats (1.02 million U.S. dollars) and stimulants worth 2.74 billion kyats (1.83 million U.S. dollars) were confiscated from a car and a bush nearby where the car parked in the township. The township police filed a case to capture the suspect who was absent at the scene under the country's Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law, the release said. According to a recent release from the President's Office, a total of 971 drug-related cases were logged across Myanmar while 1,503 suspects were charged as of Feb. 8 this year, since the formation of the Drug Activity Special Complaint Department on June 26, 2018. The authorities are striving the best to fight drug trafficking and urge public members to directly inform drug trafficking-related cases to the department as well as the Home Affairs Ministry and relevant region and state governments, the release said..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Xinhua" (China)
Date of publication: 2020-02-12
Date of entry/update: 2020-02-13
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar Opium Cultivation in Decline: UN Report
Topic: Armed Ethnic Groups, Conflict, cultivation, Drugs, Farming, growth, heroin, Kachin, Narcotics, Opium, poppies, poppy, production, Shan, UNODC
Topic: Armed Ethnic Groups, Conflict, cultivation, Drugs, Farming, growth, heroin, Kachin, Narcotics, Opium, poppies, poppy, production, Shan, UNODC
Description: "Opium cultivation in Myanmar decreased last year, continuing the downward trend that started in 2014 due in part to the continuing shift in the regional drug market towards synthetic drugs, according to a new UN survey. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Myanmar Opium Survey 2019, released on Tuesday in Naypyitaw, the amount of land cultivated for opium dropped 11 percent in 2019 to 33,100 hectares (ha), continuing the downward trend from 57,600 ha in 2014. Decreases were observed in Shan State’s northern, eastern and southern areas with drops of 7, 8 and 17 percent respectively, but cultivation increased slightly in Kachin State, up 15 percent from 2018. Despite the declines, the UNODC said that “the highest levels of cultivation continue to take place in unstable and conflict prone areas of Shan and Kachin.” It added that opium cultivation, heroin production and trafficking, and the evolving illicit drug economy, including heroin and synthetic drugs, “are affecting peace and stability in the country and surrounding border areas.” Shan and Kachin states are Myanmar’s main opium producing areas and UNODC focused its 2019 survey on these states. In 2018, Chin and Kayah states were included in the survey. UNODC conducts the Myanmar Opium Survey jointly with the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control (CCDAC) under Myanmar’s Ministry of Home Affairs..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication: 2020-02-04
Date of entry/update: 2020-02-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Chinese police seize over 151kg of drugs in border province
Topic: China , Drug Trafficking , Major Border Case
Topic: China , Drug Trafficking , Major Border Case
Description: "Police have captured three suspects and seized 151.22kg of drugs in a major cross-border drug trafficking case, local authorities said on Saturday (Feb 1). After receiving a tip-off that a drug gang was planning to transport drugs into China, police sent a task force to the China-Myanmar border city of Lincang in southwest China's Yunnan Province to investigate the case. On Jan 14, police caught three suspects in Lincang's Mengding Township, with methamphetamine weighing 151.22 kg seized from the bottom of a truck driven by a suspect. The suspects are under criminal detention. Further investigation is underway. ON a separate issue, a senior official from the Thai Ministry of Commerce have told reporters that he is worried that the continuing strong Thai baht currency will again affect Thailand's border trade with Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. Last year, Thailand missed the target of cross-border trade volume due mainly to the baht appreciation; this year the baht has not weakened, said Keerati Rushchano, said director-general of the ministry's Foreign Trade Department. The border trade in 2019 totalled 1.33 trillion baht (US$43.1bil), a 3.43% drop, he added..."
Source/publisher: "The Star Online" (Selangor)
Date of publication: 2020-02-01
Date of entry/update: 2020-02-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar reports over 950 drug-related cases in 2 years
Description: "Myanmar has reported 957 drug-related cases, involving 1,480 suspects within two years, Xinhua reported quoting state-run media reported. As of 25 January, this year, the authorities have seized over 7.49 kg of heroin, 1.34 kg of methamphetamine (ICE), 40.3 kg of opium, 462,707 stimulants tablets and other drugs, respectively, since the formation of the Drug Activity Special Complaint Department on June 26, 2018. The authorities are stepping up efforts to fight against drug trafficking and urge the public to directly report drug trafficking-related cases..."
Source/publisher: "Mizzima" (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2020-01-30
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-30
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Mizoram: 6 arrested near Indo-Myanmar border, 1.5 kg heroin seized
Sub-title: Seized heroin packets were concealed in gearbox, dashboard and backside of a car
Description: "Six drug peddlers, including a woman, were arrested in Mizoram’s Champhai town near the Indo-Myanmar border on Sunday, for possessing 1.5 kg of heroin. State excise and narcotics department spokesperson Peter Zohmingthanga said, “On Sunday, the anti-narcotic squad of excise and narcotics department and volunteers of Champhai’s Zotlang locality intercepted an Aizawl-bound Santro car at Champhai’s Ruantlang locality on Sunday night.” After search, the anti-narcotic squad was able to recover 1.5 kg of heroin from the car. The seized heroin packets were concealed in the gearbox, dashboard, and backside of the car, Zohmingthanga said. The arrested persons have been identified as Lalrinchhana (32), Jacob Lalhriatpuia (28), Malsawmtluanga (28) and Lalnunthanga (23), all belonging to Champhai’s Zotlang locality, and Hmingthansanga (29) and Lallianpari (44), both from Dartetui village, he said. They were booked under the relevant section of the Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances (ND&PS) Act, 1985. The contraband, valued at Rs 36 lakh in the local market, was being smuggled from Myanmar. The six were produced before a special judge of ND &PS Act and were sent to Champhai district jail on Monday..."
Source/publisher: "Northeast Now" (India)
Date of publication: 2020-01-21
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Over 20 kg of raw opium busted in E. Myanmar
Description: "Myanmar police busted 21.35 kg of raw opium in the same township of Shan state, said a release from the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control (CCDAC) on Wednesday. Acting on tip-off, a joint police force seized 4.5 kg of raw opium and some stimulants from a house in Taung Thone Lone (Upper) village in Tachileik township on Tuesday morning. On the same day, 16.85 kg of raw opium and 13,500 stimulant tablets were confiscated from another house in the same village later. Two suspects were charged in connection with the cases under the country's Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law. According to a press release issued by the President Office on Monday, a total of 1,411 people were arrested in connection with 896 drug-related cases from June 26, 2018 to Dec. 21, 2019. On June 26 last year, Myanmar government announced formation of the Drug Activity Special Complaint Department to accept and respond to reports on drug abuses and related cases from the public. The authorities are stepping up the efforts to fight against drug trafficking and urge the public to directly inform drug trafficking cases to the department, as well as Home Affairs Ministry and relevant state and region governments, the release said..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Xinhua" (China)
Date of publication: 2019-12-25
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-13
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Over 3kg of heroin, stimulants seized in eastern Myanmar
Description: "Myanmar anti-narcotic police seized 3.74 kg of heroin and some stimulants in Shan state, said a release from the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control (CCDAC) on Friday (Jan 10). The seizures were made in Lashio and Muse townships on Thursday. Acting on tip-off, a joint narcotic police force confiscated 1.98 kg of heroin and 246,000 stimulant tablets from a car travelling on Muse-Namhkan road in Muse township on Thursday afternoon. In the evening of the same day, soap boxes filled with 1.76 kg of heroin were seized from a vehicle on Muse-Mandalay road during the joint police force's anti-narcotic operation. Three suspects were charged in connection with the cases. According tointernational reports, Myanmar’s remote mountains and valleys have played a central role in the regional supply chains for illicit drugs..."
Source/publisher: "The Star Online" (Malaysia)
Date of publication: 2020-01-10
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: 666 kg of ICE drugs busted in Myanmar’s Yangon
Description: "Myanmar police seized 666 kg of methamphetamine (ICE) in Myanmar’s Yangon region, said a release from the Home Affairs Ministry on Wednesday. The seizure was made by a joint police force in Yangon city on Tuesday. Packets filled with ICE were confiscated from a car parking near a traffic light post in Hlaing township on Tuesday evening. On the same day, 16,200 litres of hydrochloric acid were also seized from a 18-wheeled truck on Mandalay-Nawnghkio road in Nawnghkio township, Shan state. Also, a joint anti-narcotic police busted 475,000 stimulant tablets from a car in Sittwe township, Rakhine state on Tuesday evening. Investigations into the cases are underway to take action against the suspects who fled the scenes under the country’s Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Xinhua" (China)
Date of publication: 2019-12-11
Date of entry/update: 2019-12-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Tackling drug addiction: Myanmar ethnic group steps up fight
Sub-title: How a rebel group in one of Myanmar's main drug-growing areas is combating addiction.
Description: "Governments in Southeast Asia say more regional cooperation is needed to tackle a growing drug problem. Much of the methamphetamine and opium comes from Myanmar, where armed groups use drug money to fund their wars against the government. But as Wayne Hay reports, one of those armies says it is anti-drugs and is stepping up its fight against addiction..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication: 2019-12-08
Date of entry/update: 2019-12-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Asia’s drug ‘kingpin’ more Hollywood than reality
Description: "The Asia-Pacific drug trade has a new kingpin, at least according to the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and some Western anti-narcotics officials. His name: Tse Chi Lop, a Chinese-born Canadian citizen also known as Sam Gor, or Brother No. 3 in Cantonese, who is reputedly the leader of a gang that controls most of the region’s illegal and wide-reaching methamphetamine trade. In October, Reuters published an in-depth investigation exposing Tse’s new “Asian meth syndicate”, which according to report controls the bulk of the region’s rampant trade in the narcotic. The Reuters report referred to him as “Asia’s most-wanted man” who runs a “vast multinational drug trafficking syndicate” in alliance with “five of Asia’s triad groups.” The UNODC, the report said, estimates Tse’s syndicate’s 2018 revenues at US$8-17.7 billion in 2018, with Asian sales reaching from Japan to New Zealand. Tse, who’s whereabouts are unknown, has not responded to the allegations..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
Date of publication: 2019-12-01
Date of entry/update: 2019-12-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar policeman arrested for crystal meth switch
Topic: Myanmar, meth, drugs, crime
Topic: Myanmar, meth, drugs, crime
Description: " A Myanmar policeman has been arrested after switching 64kg of seized crystal methamphetamine with salts loosely resembling the party drug known as Ice, officials said Tuesday (Jun 4). Officers stumbled across the suspect packages of confiscated Ice around a week ago as they carried out an inventory of seized narcotics at a police station ahead of an annual burning to mark an international day against drugs on Jun 26. "Sixty-four packages out of 103 were fake," Deputy Police Colonel, Myint Swe, chief of Kengtung district police force in Shan State told AFP, adding each package weighed 1kg (2.2 pounds). A kilogram of Ice is worth around 20 million kyats (US$13,000) locally, giving the pilfered product a value of around US$830,000 inside Myanmar. It fetches several times more the further it travels from source. Police-sergeant Myint Naing was arrested on Sunday, several hours drive away, and had been flown back to Kengtung for interrogation, police said..."
Source/publisher: "CNA" ( Singapore)
Date of publication: 2019-06-04
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-29
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: 14kg heroin smuggled from Myanmar seized
Description: "New Delhi: In a major haul of drugs, Delhi Police’s Sepcial Cell has seized 14 kilograms of heroin worth Rs50 crore. Two Uttar Pradesh-based smugglers have been arrested in this connection. The contraband had been sent from Myanmar via Manipur. According to DCP Sanjeev Kumar Yadav, the arrested men were identified as Sanjeet Kumar Singh (34) from Varanasi and Pradeep Yadav (24) from Gazipur. The cops are now looking for a woman, who is allegedly heading this syndicate. Recently, the northern range of the cell had received information about this cartel and deployed informers around Manipur to develop intelligence. The cops got to know that the woman kingpin “Didi,” who is a native of Nepal, was based in Manipur..."
Source/publisher: "The Times of India" (Oslo)
Date of publication: 2019-11-20
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-20
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: China targets one of Asia's biggest meth cartels: deputy drug tsar
Description: "Chinese drug police are working with Mekong countries to strike at the heart of a mega-rich meth syndicate, a senior Beijing drugs tsar said, as the region targets top-level drug traffickers instead of street dealers. The porous lawless border areas of Myanmar, Thailand and Laos have for decades been a hub for heroin production, but the so-called "Golden Triangle" drug trade is now pumping unprecedented quantities of synthetic drugs into the global markets, fuelling a US$61 billion drug trade. In large part responsible for the dramatic shift to synthetic drugs is a mega-cartel known as Sam Gor which the UN's Office on Drugs and Crime believes is Asia's biggest crime syndicate led by a Chinese-born Canadian citizen named Mr Tse Chi Lop. China is now stepping up efforts with Mekong countries Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam to take down Sam Gor in a "joint operation", said an official from China's National Narcotics Control Commission. "They are one of the major threats," said deputy commissioner Mr Andy Tsang on the sidelines of a Friday meeting to stamp out a regional plan. "The region as a whole, China included, will do our best to hit it where it hurts the most," he told AFP..."
Source/publisher: Agence France-Presse (AFP) (France) via "Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2019-11-16
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar seizes largest crystal meth haul this year
Description: "Myanmar authorities seized more than 1,700 kilogrammes (3,750 pounds) of crystal meth worth nearly US$29 million in a multi-state operation this week, the biggest haul of 2019 in a country widely believed to be the world's largest methamphetamine producer. High-grade crystal meth, or "ice", is smuggled out of Myanmar via sophisticated networks to lucrative developed markets as far away as Japan, South Korea, and Australia. Authorities have been nabbing larger hauls in recent months of ice and lower quality meth pills, known in the region as "yaba", which experts say are produced in Myanmar's conflict-ridden eastern Shan State. This week's operation started on March 24 when the Myanmar Navy stopped a boat with seven people onboard off the coast of Kawthaung Township, the southernmost tip of the country, and found 1,737 kilogrammes of ice, state-run newspaper Myanmar Alinn reported Saturday. "It's the biggest seizure this year," an official from the National Drug Control Department told AFP on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case. Using information gleaned from a satellite phone, a GPS navigator, and three mobile phones found onboard, authorities raided the house of the owner of the drugs in Yangon the next day, arresting his wife and confiscating seven bank books..."
Source/publisher: Agence France-Presse (AFP) (France) via "Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2019-03-30
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-09
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: 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:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication: 2019-10-18
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-09
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Poppy cultivation down, but drug trade grows
Description: "THE United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) has reported that the land planted with opium poppy fell by 10 percent last year, but local law analysts said the illegal drug trade continues to grow. According to the report, an estimated 37,300 hectares of opium poppy were planted in Myanmar last year, down from 41,000 hectares in 2017. Shan and Kachin states were the top producers of opium poppy with a combined 36,100 hectares, while Chin and Kayah states grew a combined 1200 hectares. But a spokesman for the country’s anti-narcotics force said the number of drug-related cases in the country increased last year. “Last year there were 13,000 drug cases brought to court and 18,000 people were arrested, much higher than the 8000 cases and 13,000 arrested in 2017,” said Police Chief Zaw Lin of the central anti-drug force. He said the increase in the number of drug-related arrests and interdiction could be attributed to a centre opened by President U Win Myint last June that provided secure lines of communication for people with tips. The International Crisis Group (ICG), a Brussels-based security think tank, said in a report last week that Shan State is now a global hub for the production of heroin and methamphetamine, with China as the main source of the precursor chemicals. The ICG urged the government and neighbouring countries, especially China, to help in the difficult fight to stop the drug trade in Shan State, warning that it could dominate the area’s economy..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2019-01-15
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-09
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Two suspected female drug couriers arrested in Tachileik
Sub-title: Two women suspected of being drug couriers were arrested over the weekend in Shan State after they were caught in possession of thousands of amphetamine tablets, police said.
Description: "The suspects who were riding a motorcycle were arrested after they were stopped at a random checkpoint near the Mone Lite Village in Tachileik Township on Saturday and found to be carrying 50,000 tablets of amphetamine with a street value amounting to K50 million(US$32,700). The two suspects, 20 and 17, admitted that they agreed to transport the drug in exchange for payment from a drug dealer in the area..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2019-10-17
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-09
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Week in Review: Myanmar still a drug country
Description: "This week, a Myanmar Times special report detailed a growing problem with methamphetamine in eastern Shan State. Despite unprecedented record seizures of meth in Myanmar in recent years, the industry is still going strong in the Golden Triangle. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime also noted that opium poppy cultivation has been decreasing yearly but Myanmar remains the second largest producer of opium in the world. As a regional effort cracks down on illicit drugs, crime gangs seems to be moving from cultivating poppy fields, which are easily located, to the manufacture of methamphetamine because it is easier to hide from the law. The International Crisis Group released a report on January 8 classifying Shan State as one of the largest global producers of meth. In its report, “Fire and Ice: Conflict and Drugs in Myanmar’s Shan State,” the global security think tank noted that the country’s proximity to China and the ongoing conflicts with armed ethnic groups provide a breeding ground for the production and export of narcotics. Land Law takes effect: Monday was the deadline for anyone occupying or using vacant, fallow, or virgin land to apply for a permit to use the land for 30 years or face eviction and up to two years in jail under the Vacant, Fallow, and Virgin (VFV) Land Management Law. The law has been criticised by an armed ethnic group for affecting millions of small farmers, especially in ethnic borderlands, and sparking fears of eviction and prison. As expected, on the first day of the law taking effect, local government officials and companies started evicting villagers from disputed lands, according to lawyers in southern Myanmar. Two cases are currently ongoing..."
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2019-03-15
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-09
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Drug Addiction Rises in Myanmar's Kachin State
Description: "The clanking sound of leg irons shackled around the ankles of the unwilling patients signals the arrival of a small group of heroin addicts at the mess hall located inside a fortified Pat Ja San compound near Laiza in Myanmar’s Kachin state, located in the country's north along the border with China. The compound is one of 28 run in Kachin and neighboring Shan state by Pat Ja San, a Christian anti-drug vigilante group. International observers say treatments at the rehabilitation centers are rudimentary and brutal compared to modern Western methods. The detoxification program often includes locking patients in barred rooms and confining their legs to wooden stocks to prevent escape during the initial treatment when addicts experience the painful effects of withdrawal. Methadone is sometimes available, but medical training for the workers and access to modern drugs are limited, especially in the rural areas where military battles persist. 'Drug is everywhere': Lahtaw Ah Li, 22, is a new arrival. At 14, he began working at a jade mine in Hpakant township in Kachin state, where most of the industry is concentrated, scavenging through discarded rock piles for bits of the valuable gem. A few years later, he started using heroin to cope with the long hours. “The drug is for sale everywhere around the mine sites, and it’s cheap to buy," Ah Li said about heroin, which costs about 75 cents per injection..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Voice of America (VOA)" (USA)
Date of publication: 2019-11-06
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Minorities, Money and Getting It Wrong in Myanmar
Description: "The euphoria knew no bounds. When it was announced that a text had been drafted for a proposed ceasefire agreement between the Myanmar government and some of the country’s many ethnic resistance armies, The Center for Humanitarian Dialog, a Swiss-based peace and reconciliation outfit that runs several Myanmarrelated projects, hailed it as “the most comprehensive ceasefire agreement in Myanmar’s history” which “will set the stage for resolving the longest-running conflict in Southeast Asia.” Vijay Nambiar, special advisor on Myanmar to the Secretary General of the United Nations, also called the drafting of the proposal “historic” and UNICEF even suggested that it “could be a dawn of a new time of progress for the most disadvantaged children in Myanmar.” That was on March 31, 2015. Four years on, it is evident that Myanmar’s so-called peace process has been a complete failure. Even as the foreign peacemakers were congratulating themselves in the capital Naypyidaw and in Yangon, the reality on the ground remained depressingly unchanged. Airstrikes and other attacks were continuing against Kachin and Palaung rebel forces in the north and northeast of the country. When what was termed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) was nevertheless signed on Oct. 15, 2015, it was announced that “eight groups” were behind it. But five of the signatories had no noteworthy armed forces, and one, the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army, had been a government-allied militia since it broke away from the main group, the Karen National Union (KNU), in 1994..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Global Asia" (South Korea)
Date of publication: 2019-03-27
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 395.65 KB (4 pages)
more
Title: Rohingya man arrested in Bangladesh after $5m drug haul
Sub-title: Special police staged raid on a beach in Cox's Bazar following tip that trawler carrying drugs would land there.
Description: "The spokesman said 800,000 pills were found in sacks in the trawler and one Rohingya suspect was detained while several others escaped. About 740,000 Rohingya arrived in Bangladesh after a Myanmar military crackdown in August 2017 and drug dealing has become a growing problem in the refugee camps in Cox's Bazar where they live. The seizure was the biggest made this year of the methamphetamine pills, known as yaba, which have become a popular drug among young people in the nation of 168 million. Since a crackdown was launched last year, more than 500 suspected drug traffickers - including at least 25 Rohingya - have been shot dead by police and security forces..."
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication: 2019-10-29
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-29
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar seizes large amount of stimulants in northeastern state
Description: "Myanmar authorities have seized a large amount of stimulants worth of 700 million kyats (466,600 U.S. dollars) in Shan state, according to a release of the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control (CCDAC) late on Tuesday. The seizure was made by local anti-drug squad in Ywa Ngan township on Monday afternoon when the unit intercepted a car on Aung Ban-Ywa Ngan motor road. The stimulants were found hidden inside the car, the committee said, adding that local police is taking action under the country's Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law. On Oct. 12, Myanmar authorities also seized as many as 50,000 stimulant tablets from a motorcycle in Mong Yawng township, Shan state..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Xinhua" (China)
Date of publication: 2019-10-23
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Floating meth sacks found in Myanmar sea worth US$20 million: Official
Topic: Myanmar, Drugs
Topic: Myanmar, Drugs
Description: "Sacks of crystal meth scooped from the sea by Myanmar fishermen who mistook it for a deodorant substance had a street value of US$20 million, an official told AFP on Sunday (Oct 20), in a country believed to be the world's largest methamphetamine producer. The accidental drug haul off Myanmar's coastal Ayeyarwady region occurred when fishermen spotted a total of 23 sacks floating in the Andaman Sea on Wednesday. Each one contained plastic-wrapped bags labelled as Chinese green tea - packaging commonly used by Southeast Asian crime gangs to smuggle crystal meth to far-flung destinations including Japan, South Korea and Australia. Locals were mystified by the crystallised substance in the sacks, said Zaw Win, a local official of the National League for Democracy party who assisted the fishermen and police..."
Source/publisher: "CNA" ( Singapore) via "AFP" (France)
Date of publication: 2019-10-20
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: ICE, stimulants seized in Myanmar's Yangon region
Description: "Myanmar authorities seized a haul of narcotic drugs including ICE and stimulant tablets in Myanmar's Yangon region in single day, according to a release from the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control (CCDAC) on Sunday. On Saturday, 1.04 kilograms of methamphetamine (ICE) worth over 104 million kyats (69,333 U.S. dollars), 45 stimulant tablets and related materials were confiscated, along with two suspects by a joint police force from a car and a house in Thingangyun township and Mayangone township of Yangon, the largest city of the country. Also, 4,000 stimulant tablets were seized from two motorcycles along with two suspects in Htantabin township of Yangon region. On the same day, an anti-narcotic taskforce bust 124,200 stimulant tablets worth 621 million kyats (414,000 U.S. dollars) from a motorcycle and three suspects were arrested on Shwebo-Myitkyina road in Indaw township, Sagaing region..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Xinhua" (China)
Date of publication: 2019-10-13
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: KIO releases a drug survey to counter UNODC report
Sub-title: Opium cultivation in Kachin and Shan states is double the amount reported by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and it is all in Tatmadaw (military)-controlled areas, according to a report released by the Kachin Independence Organisatio
Description: "The KIO’s Drug Eradication Committee unveiled the report on the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on Wednesday. In its report, the KIO said that it had conducted surveys in 19 townships in Kachin and northern Shan during the 2018-2019 opium growing season, and it had found 6918 hectares of opium fields in Kachin, double the 3400 hectares estimated by the UNODC in its 2018 Myanmar Opium Survey. The KIO said it found some opium fields in Puta-o and Sumprabum, areas of Kachin that were not surveyed by UNODC. The UNODC report only mentions the Danai and Kanpaiti areas as opium-growing regions in Kachin, it said. The report also said there were 3192.4 hectares of opium fields in five townships in northern Shan. As in Kachin, all opium growing is taking place in areas controlled by the military, their Border Guard Force and allied militia, the KIO said..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2019-07-01
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-12
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Shan group slams UN opium report
Sub-title: The Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) has rejected the findings of the UN opium survey for 2018, saying it contains errors and is demanding a correction.
Description: "The armed ethnic group based in northern Shan issued the demand in an open letter on Monday to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). “[The report] is wrong and seriously misleading,” Lt. Col Sai Harn, head of the RCSS’s drug eradication programme, said in the letter, a copy of which was provided to The Myanmar Times. The RCSS objected to the agency’s map of armed groups that shows a large presence of the government-allied militia in southern Shan State, including in areas where there is a lot of opium poppy cultivation. The report made no mention of opium poppy cultivation in areas controlled by the Tatmadaw (military) and allied militias. It said the area of opium poppy cultivation in Myanmar had dropped 10 percent to 37,300 hectares in 2018, down from 41,000 hectares in 2017 and that Shan continues to be a major grower, accounting for almost 90pc of the total. The southern, eastern and northern portions of the state accounted for 38pc, 27pc and 23pc of total cultivation, respectively. The RCSS insisted that the map of armed groups in Myanmar on page seven of the report wrongly designated areas under the government-allied Pa-O National Organisation in southwest Shan as belonging to the Pa-O National Liberation Army (PNLA). These areas are shown on the map on page six as having a lot of opium poppy cultivation..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2019-03-20
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-12
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar land ownership law could displace millions of farmers
Sub-title: Under a land reformation act, millions of farmers across Myanmar could be forced from land they have tilled for generations. Many are unaware of the danger they face. Peter Yeung and Carlotta Dotto report from Yangon.
Description: "It took less than a day for Daw Oo Naing's entire banana plantation to be destroyed. A group of 21 men carrying long knives arrived quietly in the morning and made quick work of hacking down her 600 trees, which were still young with tender trunks. Oo Naing said she tried to drive them away; using a slingshot to defend her ancestral land. "I will protect my plantation with my life," she said. "It will be the legacy of my children." But her effort was futile. Her livelihood was demolished. Under Myanmar's Vacant, Fallow and Virgin Lands Management Act (VFV), introduced in 2012 as part of a slew of measures to bring in large-scale investment and development to rural areas, Oo Naing's land ownership was not legally binding. Read more: Thailand's war on drugs targets meth from Myanmar Although Oo Naing's family had reared the land for generations, their ownership was not officially documented. This is a common situation among Myanmar's 134 ethnic minorities, who constitute a third of the country' population of 51 million. Their land was considered vacant by the authorities. In effect, anyone could claim it. For example, Chinese businesses have taken over banana plantations for mass-export in Kachin. And in Rakhine state land has been taken over to build oil and gas pipelines..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "DW News" (Germany)
Date of publication: 2019-03-01
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Shan armed group launches anti-drug campaign, kills 8
Topic: Shan State, UWSA
Sub-title: The United Wa State Army in Shan State, which has been accused of coddling drug dealers in the areas under its control, killed eight suspected drug traffickers and seized millions of methamphetamine tablets last week.
Topic: Shan State, UWSA
Description: "The UWSA operation on Tuesday and Wednesday in northern Shan netted 4.8 million methamphetamine tablets and neutralised a drug-trafficking syndicate, a spokesman for the group said. U Nyi Rang, UWSA spokesperson, said nine drug traffickers were arrested by an anti-drug task force. “We ordered the gang to surrender, but they refused. They began firing at our men so we fired back.” He said the UWSA had dispatched fighters to the Thai-Myanmar border after receiving a tip-off about a drug operation in the area on September 10. U Nyi Rang said some gang members were able to flee across the Thai border during the clashes. He gave no details about the traffickers but said they were from another Myanmar ethnic group. The UWSA, the largest ethnic armed group in Myanmar, is based in northern and eastern Shan, and has a reputation for trafficking illegal drugs all over the world. The Thai government has often accused the group of trafficking drugs across the Thai border. The UWSA has denied all accusations, saying that the drug traffickers operating in their territory were from other parts of Myanmar..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2019-10-07
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Over 1.2 mln stimulant tablets seized in northwestern Myanmar
Description: "The authorities seized over 1.28 million stimulant tablets worth over 2.57 billion kyats (1.7 million U.S. dollars) in Myanmar's Sagaing region, the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control (CCDAC) said on Friday. A motorcycle was intercepted by an anti-narcotic taskforce and 87,750 stimulant tablets were found hidden in the toolbox of the motorcycle on Tamu-Nant Hpa Lon road in Tamu town on Thursday. Also more than 1.19 million stimulant tablets were later confiscated from the motorcycle driver's house. The driver was charged under the country's Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law. Meanwhile, barrels filled with 7,200 litres of sulphuric acid that are used in drugs production were confiscated from a 12-wheeled truck parked in Lai-Hka township, Shan state, on Thursday. Further investigation to capture the suspect who was not at the scene is underway, the CCDAC said..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Xinhua" (China)
Date of publication: 2019-10-04
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: UWSA Kills 6 More Drug Traffickers, Struggles to Police Thai-Myanmar Border
Topic: drug trafficking, United Wa State Army
Topic: drug trafficking, United Wa State Army
Description: "Six more alleged members of an illegal drug trafficking group were killed by United Wa State Army (UWSA) forces on Wednesday as the ethnic armed group attempted to hunt down drug traffickers who escaped clashes on Tuesday near the Thai-Myanmar border in eastern Shan State. “We killed six of them and detained one,” Nyi Rang, a spokesperson for the UWSA in Lashio, told The Irrawaddy on Friday. The incident broke out at 5 p.m. as members of the UWSA encountered the alleged drug traffickers and told them to surrender. The traffickers refused and then reportedly attacked the UWSA forces. Nyi Rang said his troops seized around 3 million methamphetamine tablets during the incident. Some of the drug traffickers escaped and the UWSA said it is continuing to search the nearby mountains and jungles. The UWSA controls an area in eastern Shan State that shares a 400-kilometer border with Thailand, but Nyi Rang said his troops are unable to police illegal drug smuggling across such a large area..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication: 2019-10-04
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Drug lab raids in Myanmar's meth capital met with artillery fire
Topic: methamphetamine, drugs, Kutkai, Shan State, Tatmadaw, Golden Triangle, crime
Topic: methamphetamine, drugs, Kutkai, Shan State, Tatmadaw, Golden Triangle, crime
Description: " Raids on jungle drug labs have been met with heavy artillery fire, Myanmar narcotics police said Thursday, in an area riddled with armed groups accused of pumping out much of the world's methamphetamine. Myanmar is under increasingly intense pressure from its neighbours to close down the meth labs in lawless parts of Shan State, the heart of the notorious "Golden Triangle". A major crackdown kicked off last month in Kutkai Township, northern Shan State, the Tatmadaw has said, where an entwined network of drug lords, ethnic rebel groups and security forces are accused of running a shadow drug economy worth billions of dollars. Huge stockpiles of chemicals as well as millions of dollars of ice, the highly addictive crystalised form of meth, were seized in one raid on homespun labs buried deep in the jungle. "The crackdown is ongoing," a senior police officer from the anti-drugs squad told AFP, requesting anonymity. The Tatmadaw and drug police initially conducted raids in the area on July 21 but were repelled by "heavy artillery" at the site, the officer said..."
Source/publisher: Agence France-Presse (AFP) (France) via "Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2019-08-01
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Makeshift centre helps drug addicts kick habit in Shan
Sub-title: It was utterly senseless, calling it Yangon Village Centre when it’s hundreds of miles away from the country’s economic capital. But then, everything in the place defies logic. Senseless.
Description: "The roofed enclosure was the size of two 40-foot steel cargo containers patched together with galvanised iron sheets and wood. The wooden door was locked with an iron chain. Emblazoned on the door were the words, “No one will get addicted because of me,” written in white on a red background. Whatever that means. Inside the building was just a huge open space with a concrete floor where there were dozens of people. Some were sleeping on worn-out beds, while others were just staring at the ceiling, unmindful of the pair of prying eyes staring at them inquisitively. Still others sat on their beds, or on the floor, lost in their own thoughts, indifferent to the misery around them. Moving closer to the gaunt, dishevelled men lying on their beds, one couldn’t help but notice the chains around their ankles..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2019-10-02
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar Times founder jailed for 13 years on drugs charges
Description: "A Myanmar court on Wednesday jailed an Australian publisher for 13 years on drugs charges, a year after police uncovered a stash of methamphetamines and opium at his home, his lawyer said. Ross Dunkley, 62, was arrested along with business partner John Mackenzie and several Myanmar women in a June 2018 bust in the commercial capital of Yangon. Police said they found crystal methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana. Lawyer Khun Ring Pan said Dunkley and Mackenzie were sentenced to 13 years on the charges, with five Myanmar nationals jailed for 11 years each. "We will discuss with the client and decide what to do next," he said. Dunkley, co-founder of the English-language Myanmar Times newspaper, which he ran more than a decade, also published the Phnom Penh Post in Cambodia. In 2011 he spent time in prison in Myanmar for assaulting a woman and visa offences, but was released on time served..."
Source/publisher: "Reuters" (UK) via "Bangkok Post" (Thailand)
Date of publication: 2019-08-07
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar's Shan state runs on meth - and exports are thriving
Description: "Myanmar's Shan State is the epicentre of the global methamphetamine supply and the export of the illegal drug is about to get even easier, warns a new report from the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG). Shan State, a centre of conflict and illicit drug production since 1950, is controlled partly by Myanmar’s army, the Tatmadaw, and partly by multiple armed militias, some with the patronage of the Tatmadaw. "Good infrastructure, proximity to precursor supplies from China and safe haven provided by pro-government militias and in rebel-held enclaves have also made it a major global source of high purity crystal meth," says the 36-page report titled Fire And Ice: Conflict And Drugs In Myanmar's Shan State. "Production takes place in safe havens held by militias and other paramilitary units allied with the Myanmar military, as well as in enclaves controlled by non-state armed groups," the report says. The report is only the latest in a string of studies and warnings in recent years, over the proliferation of meth from Shan State, whose drug industry has seen only growth. There have been record seizures of meth in the last two years beyond the immediate region - 1.2 tonnes in Western Australia; 0.9 tonnes in Melbourne; 1.6 tonnes in Indonesia; 1.2 tonnes in Malaysia..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Straits Times" (Singapore)
Date of publication: 2019-01-08
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar’s drug haven sees a surge in production
Description: "As the International Crisis Group (ICG) report “Fire and Ice: Conflict and Drugs in Myanmar’s Shan State” makes clear, drugs are big business for the players in this northeastern state. But while decades ago, the focus of drug interdiction efforts was on opium and heroin, today it is a drug that is in strong demand in Myanmar, the region, and the world. Methamphetamines and their variations – including powerful and highly addictive Ice – make up a lucrative industry in the state. Gram-for-gram, crystal meth is worth more than heroin, and the total value of the Mekong drug trade is estimated at over $40 billion per year and rising, according to the report. In January 2018, the Myanmar army and police raided an abandoned house in Kutkai township in northern Shan State, seizing 30 million yaba pills, 1,750kg of crystal meth, more than 500kg of heroin and 200kg of caffeine powder. According to the authorities, it was the country’s largest-ever drug bust, with a domestic value of some $54 million. The following month, a joint army and police team raided two major crystal meth labs in the same area, seizing some seven million dollars’ worth of advanced laboratory equipment, twelve state-of-the art generators, huge quantities of precursor chemicals, and unused branded packaging sufficient for ten tonnes of product – suggesting that the labs were gearing up for a production run of that volume. While the sizes of these seizures may have been record-setting, they were not surprising. In the last few years, authorities have regularly captured huge quantities of crystal meth in Myanmar and beyond, with the bulk thought to originate from Shan State. These included 1.2 tonnes seized in Western Australia in December 2017 and 0.9 tonnes in April that year in Melbourne; almost 5 tonnes in Thailand over the course of 2017 and 15 tonnes from January-July 2018; 1.6 tonnes in Indonesia in February 2018; and 1.2 tonnes in Malaysia in May 2018. What is clear is 2018 figures will exceed those for 2017. The Kutkai raids were revealing in a number of ways. First, the location was not a remote, rebel-controlled part of Shan State beyond the authorities’ reach. Rather, it was relatively close to Lashio, not far from the main road to the Chinese border at Muse – Myanmar’s biggest overland trade route – in an area controlled by a militia allied with the Tatmadaw. The Tatmadaw thus had access to the area, even if law enforcement personnel did not. Crisis Group researchers could drive to the area and talk to local people there, passing through checkpoints manned by the militia and visiting the village where the abandoned house was located. Second, authorities described both the house and the laboratories as “abandoned”. This suggests that those responsible were tipped off and fled in advance of the raids – which were triggered by Myanmar authorities being given precise coordinates of the locations and a description of the activities taking place there, so that officials apparently felt that they had no alternative but to act. There were apparently no consequences for the militia that controls the area, which has maintained a ceasefire with the military for nearly 28 years and has a large compound in Lashio town centre that Crisis Group researchers visited. Seizures of crystal meth, as well as yaba, have increased significantly in recent years. Each massive haul tends to be presented as an interdiction victory. However, these record seizures represent the tip of an iceberg, and are therefore evidence of the scale of the problem rather than of any genuine success in addressing it. Despite massive seizures, prices of crystal meth have remained stable, a clear indication that they are a small proportion of total volumes..."
Source/publisher: "Mizzima" (Myanmar) via BNI Multimedia Group (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2019-06-03
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar police seize large haul of stimulants in eastern state
Description: "Myanmar authorities seized large haul of stimulant tablets in three townships of Shan state in a single day, according to the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control (CCDAC) on Saturday. The seizures were made in Pinlaung, Tachileik and Tangyan townships on Friday. Going undercover as a client, a joint police force captured two suspects along with 100,000 stimulant tablets worth 100 million kyats (66,667 U.S. dollars) in Pinlaung township on Friday evening. Also, 4,000 stimulant tablets were seized from a motorbike in Tachileik township, while 1,180 stimulant tablets were confiscated from a house in Tangyan township. Meanwhile, 210 grams of heroin and 320 stimulant tablets were also found from a motorbike when it was intercepted on Htee Chaint-Kawlin road in Kawlin township, Sagaing region, on the same day, the committee's release said. Five suspects in connection with the cases were charged under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Xinhua" (China)
Date of publication: 2019-09-29
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-29
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar facing 'public health disaster' as children as young as 9 get hooked on meth
Description: "Mobs of stick-wielding church-goers in Myanmar's northeast used to descend on dealers and addicts in a desperate effort to save their communities from a meth-induced health crisis sweeping the country. But anonymous death threats brought the vigilante operations to a halt. "It simply became too dangerous for us," says Zau Man, leader of the local Baptist church in Kutkai, a town in Shan State scarred by addiction. Myanmar is the second-biggest producer of opium in the world after Afghanistan and is now believed to be the largest source of methamphetamine. The multi-billion dollar industry outstrips rivals in South America to feed lucrative markets as far away as Sydney, Tokyo and Seoul. Shan is the epicentre of production in Myanmar, with a network of local armed groups linking up with transnational trafficking gangs. Kutkai sits between Mandalay and the militia-riddled town of Muse on the China border, a key entry point for precursor chemicals heading to Myanmar's illegal meth labs..."
Source/publisher: "The Straits Times" (Singapore)
Date of publication: 2019-02-20
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar’s Militia-run, billion dollar Gateway to China
Description: "With tinted windows and their militia name emblazoned on the side of their Ford truck, “Pan Say” fighters cruise the sleazy streets of Muse, Myanmar’s main gateway to China and awash with weapons and cash from casinos, drugs and sex. Ten armed groups run the Shan State border town of Muse, which is separated by a shallow river from the gleaming towers of its Chinese counterpart, Ruili. All are under the tutelage of the same patron: Myanmar’s Army. China and Myanmar have an agreement not to station troops along their border. Instead, Myanmar’s Army uses the militias as proxies in a long running conflict between the Central State and Ethnic Rebel Groups who operate in the area, including the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and Taaung National Liberation Army (TNLA). A fiendishly complicated, decades-old struggle for money, trade, resources and ethnic identity is playing out in Muse. The Pan Say militia gave AFP a rare snapshot of the shifting alliances and rivalries which have defined Myanmar’s frontier areas since its independence in 1948. Each militia “looks after its own business and we look after ours”, a senior Pan Say member told AFP as a batch of 30 fresh recruits dressed in fatigues trained in a compound. They have joined one of Muse’s largest militias, which boasts several hundred men, armed with M-16 rifles and Kalashnikovs. Pan Say insists it is funded by its own Jade Mines, Cigarette Factories & Karaoke Bars, denying knowledge of narcotics or other illegal activities that prosper along the border. Like other Muse militias, Pan Say accepted a deal in 2009 to come under the military’s control in exchange for a degree of autonomy..."
Source/publisher: "Belt & Road News" (China)
Date of publication: 2019-02-01
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Booming Meth Trade Challenges Southeast Asia’s Approach to Drug Policy
Description: "Patrick Winn is a reporter who has been based in the region for the past 11 years and the author of a recently published book, “Hello Shadowlands,” that delves into Southeast Asia’s transnational crime networks, including the meth trade. When I spoke to him in Bangkok recently, he offered a sobering assessment. “The increase in consumption of methamphetamine across Southeast Asia, especially mainland Southeast Asia, is truly astonishing,” he said. “This region is by far and away the meth heartland of the world.” Measuring any illicit activity accurately presents real difficulties. In addition to looking at seizures, availability and the street prices of a drug, another way of trying to work out the scale of the market is arrests. Winn points out that in Thailand, “well over 90 percent of the time cops are arresting someone for drugs, it’s because they have methamphetamine, either pills or crystal meth.” His assessment is backed up by a 2013 report released by the UNODC. So why has Southeast Asia become such a center for both the production and consumption of methamphetamine? In a basic sense, the answer is simple. To produce methamphetamine requires little more than precursor chemicals, a basic laboratory setup and a competent chemist with the requisite knowledge and a place to work where they are not going to be disturbed. As long as these elements remain constant, there is not much limit to how much can be produced. All that’s left to monetize the drug is transporting it to mass markets..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "World Politics Review (WPR)"
Date of publication: 2019-06-11
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar conflict: Kachin residents turn to drugs amid unrest
Sub-title: Instability, conflict since peace talks stalled in Kachin state have impoverished many, and some have turned to drugs.
Description: "In the mountainous region of Myanmar's northern-most Kachin state eight years of displacement and conflict has left many civilians distressed and poverty-stricken. A fragile ceasefire underlies the ongoing instability there while some have turned to drugs because of stress and depression..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication: 2019-09-24
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar state 'centre of global meth trade'
Sub-title: Report warns export of drugs from Shan state will be easier with economic corridor project
Description: "Myanmar's Shan state is the epicentre of the global methamphetamine supply and the export of the illegal drug is about to get even easier, warns a new report from the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG). In Shan state, a centre of conflict and illicit drug production since 1950, the trade in heroin and methamphetamine tablets is controlled partly by Myanmar's army, the Tatmadaw, and partly by multiple armed militias, some with the patronage of the Tatmadaw. "Good infrastructure, proximity to precursor supplies from China and safe haven provided by pro-government militias and in rebel-held enclaves have also made it a major global source of high purity crystal meth," says the report titled Fire And Ice: Conflict And Drugs In Myanmar's Shan State. The report is only the latest in a string of studies and warnings in recent years, over the proliferation of meth from Shan state, whose drug industry has seen only growth. There have been record seizures of meth in the last two years beyond the immediate region - 1.2 tonnes in Western Australia, 0.9 tonnes in Melbourne, 1.6 tonnes in Indonesia, 1.2 tonnes in Malaysia. Experts estimate seizure rates at below 10 per cent of total trade, suggesting a total annual production significantly in excess of 250 tonnes, the ICG says. In the Mekong sub-region, the trade's total value is estimated at over US$40 billion (S$54 billion) a year..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Straits Times" (Singapore)
Date of publication: 2019-01-09
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Shan State’s vast drug trade dominates its economy, says ICG
Topic: International Crisis Group, Shan State, methamphetamine, drugs, militiasTatmadaw, conflict, informal economy, Kutkai
Topic: International Crisis Group, Shan State, methamphetamine, drugs, militiasTatmadaw, conflict, informal economy, Kutkai
Description: "Illicit drug production in Shan State has become so large and profitable that it dwarfs the area’s formal economy and is hindering efforts to end ethnic conflicts, warns International Crisis Group. In a report that focuses heavily on Shan State’s emergence as a global production centre of crystal methamphetamine, or “ice”, ICG says the drugs trade is both partly a symptom of the state’s conflicts and an obstacle to sustainably ending them. It says “good infrastructure, proximity to precursor supplies from China and safe haven provided by pro-government militias and in rebel-held enclaves” had enabled the state to become a major global source of high purity crystal meth. The 36-page report, Fire and Ice: Conflict and Drugs in Myanmar’s Shan State, was released by the Brussels-based think tank on January 8. It says the drug trade in Shan State is at the centre of its political economy, which “greatly complicates efforts to resolve the area’s ethnic conflicts and undermines the prospects for better governance and inclusive economic growth in the state”. The drug trade in Shan State generates revenues for armed groups of all stripes, including militias aligned with the Tatmadaw. “Myanmar’s military, which has ultimate authority over militias and paramilitaries and profits from their activities, can only justify the existence of such groups in the context of the broader ethnic conflict of the state – so the military also has less incentive to end that conflict,” the report says. It says drug production in Shan State has had three main phases: opium and heroin from the 1950s to 1990s (when Myanmar was the largest opium producer before it was replaced by Afghanistan), followed by methamphetamines, also known as yaba, and then highly-addictive crystal meth since the early 2010s..."
Source/publisher: "Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2019-01-08
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: India seizes 1 tonne of ketamine on boat, arrests 6 Myanmar crew
Description: " India's coast guard has arrested six Myanmar men and seized US$42 million worth of ketamine after spotting a suspicious vessel in the Indian Ocean near the Nicobar Islands. The 1,160kg drug haul came after coast guard aircraft spotted the boat, which had its lights off, on Wednesday (Sep 18) in India's Exclusive Economic Zone, the defence ministry said in a statement. The boat's crew did not respond to radio calls and the coast guard eventually boarded it, with officials finding "57 gunny bundles of suspicious substance" on Friday. "Preliminary analysis ... revealed that the suspicious substance was ketamine and there were 1,160 packets of 1kg each onboard the vessel," the ministry added. The six Myanmar men and cargo were taken to Port Blair, the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where they were questioned by investigators. They claimed they left Myanmar on Sep 14 and were due to rendezvous with another boat "operating near the Thailand-Malaysia maritime border line" on Saturday, the statement said..."
Source/publisher: "CNA" ( Singapore) via "AFP" (France)
Date of publication: 2019-09-22
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar cracking down on opium, but conflicts push drug trade
Sub-title: UN report shows less land being used to grow opium poppies, but conflicts hampering eradication programme.
Description: "The amount of land being used to grow opium poppies continues to decline in Myanmar, but ongoing conflicts are hampering efforts to stamp out the trade at a time when the illicit drug economy is becoming increasingly diverse, according to a new United Nations report. Some 37,300 hectares of land in the country was under poppy cultivation last year, down from 41,000 in 2017, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in its Myanmar Opium Survey 2018 on Friday. Nearly 90 percent of all the opium was grown in the northeastern Shan state, where government forces continue to battle ethnic rebels. "The biggest drops in cultivation have been seen in areas that have had relatively good security," the UNODC said..."
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication: 2019-01-11
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar’s illegal drug crisis a ‘serious issue’, says expert
Description: "The first point to make for meth, which is the big growing problem for Myanmar, Myanmar does not produce any of the precursor chemicals, the chemicals that are needed to manufacture this. Most of these are coming from China; a few from other neighbouring countries of Myanmar. So there is also a responsibility of Myanmar’s neighbours to better control the flow of those precursor chemicals across the border into Myanmar. It is not just a Myanmar border control problem, it is also a China border control problem. And China, for example, has not been very effective at stopping the flow of those chemicals. It does not make regular seizures of illicit chemicals coming across the border, in fact, there has never been a major seizure of precursor chemicals by the Chinese border authorities as those chemicals cross the border. They do seize chemicals within China and Myanmar seizes chemicals within Myanmar but at the point of crossing there has never been a major seizure. That’s a big gap in law enforcement of this issue. So that is the first step, the precursor chemicals. But then the environment is Shan State is one where it is very difficult for the state to control. These criminal organizations that are involved in the production of these drugs choose locations for production which are difficult to reach, which are protected in some way by militia, by non-state army group, or by a general climate of impunity by paying people off so that they are not disturbed. So that is a problem of the armed conflict in Myanmar, it is also a problem of corruption. We know that these are very difficult issues for countries to address, and that is especially true given the scale of the problem. It is a multi-billion dollar industry. It is probably far larger in value than the entire legal economy of Shan State. So this is not a small problem it is a very large problem..."
Source/publisher: "Mizzima" (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2019-08-24
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar cop held for crystal meth switch
Description: "A Myanmar policeman has been arrested after switching 64 kilograms (140 pounds) of seized crystal meth with salts loosely resembling the party drug known as "ice", officials said Tuesday. Officers stumbled across the suspect packages of confiscated ice around a week ago as they carried out an inventory of seized narcotics at a police station ahead of an annual burning to mark an international day against drugs on June 26. "Sixty-four packages out of 103 were fake," Deputy Police Colonel Myint Swe, chief of Kengtung district police force in Shan State told AFP, adding each package weighed one kilo (2.2 pounds). A kilo of ice is worth around 20 million kyats ($13,000) locally, giving the pilfered product a value of around $830,000 inside Myanmar. It fetches several times more the further it travels from source. Police Sergeant Myint Naing was arrested on Sunday, several hours drive away, and had been flown back to Kengtung for interrogation, police said..."
Source/publisher: "Mizzima" via AFP
Date of publication: 2019-06-05
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : http://www.mizzima.com/article/myanmar-cop-held-crystal-meth-switch
Size: html
more
Title: Myanmar police seize massive haul of meth pills
Description: "Myanmar authorities seized more than 10 million meth pills worth $13.3 million over the weekend, police said Monday, another massive haul in a country widely believed to be the world's largest methamphetamine producer. High-grade crystal meth -- or 'ice' -- is smuggled out of Myanmar via sophisticated networks to lucrative developed markets as far away as Japan, South Korea and Australia. Lower-quality pills, cut with caffeine and known in the region as "yaba" or "crazy medicine", are pumped out to feed the voracious domestic market as well as large drug-addicted communities in nearby Thailand and Bangladesh. Two different busts took place in the west of the country at the weekend, state-run media said Monday, one in Magway region and one in Maungdaw in Rakhine state. "It's the biggest drugs seizure this year in the country and the biggest ever in Maungdaw region in Rakhine State," police colonel Win Ko Ko told AFP. The pills were likely destined for Bangladesh, where they have become an easy source of income for the Rohingya Muslim refugees who have poured across the border since a 2017 military crackdown. Most of the drug production, however, takes place on the other side of Myanmar, in conflict-ridden eastern Shan state..."
Source/publisher: "Mizzima" via AFP
Date of publication: 2019-03-05
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar struggles to tackle illegal drug trade that has morphed from traditional to modern drugs
Description: "Myanmar is caught in a conundrum as the government attempts to clean up the country’s illegal drugs trade. The country stands alongside Afghanistan as one of the top illegal drug producers in the world. And the illegal drug cartels have kept up with the times as they shifted the emphasis away from opium and heroin to the modern-day methamphetamines including the strong drug Ice. The fact that the Myanmar authorities are struggling to tackle this illegal trade comes down to the limited control Nay Pyi Taw has over the ethnic areas where the drugs are produced – primarily Shan and Kachin states – and the challenge of corruption and the state actors involved, as well as “men of influence” who benefit from the trade. But if real change is to come then Myanmar’s neighbours, China and Thailand, armed ethnic groups, and the international community need to join hands with Nay Pyi Taw to clamp down on the drug epidemic..."
Source/publisher: "Mizzima"
Date of publication: 2019-08-17
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Southeast Asia’s meth gangs making $60 billion a year: UN
Description: "Southeast Asia's drug gangs are making over $60 billion a year pumping out record amounts of methamphetamine, then laundering the profits through the region's mushrooming number of casinos, a UN study showed Thursday. Crime groups are also piggybacking on improved infrastructure to hustle Made-In-Myanmar meth to neighbouring drug markets, and as far as Australia and Japan, the report said. The study, by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), warned this was sending street prices tumbling and spurring an addiction crisis. "(A) safe, conservative estimate of over $60 billion a year," is being hoovered up by the meth lords of Southeast Asia alone, Jeremy Douglas, the UNODC's regional representative, told reporters in Bangkok at the report's launch. Seizures of methamphetamine - both the caffeine-cut 'yaba' tablets and the much more addictive and potent crystal meth or 'ice' version - had tripled over the last five years, according to the report. Last year 120 tonnes (120,000 kilogrammes) of meth was seized in East and Southeast Asia, up from around 40 tonnes in 2013, the report said. The figures were based on drug seizure figures and regional police intelligence. Much of the meth is originating from the labs of remote and lawless Northern Shan State in Myanmar, which has rebooted the 'Golden Triangle' drug trade from its staple of heroin..."
Source/publisher: "Mizzima" via AFP
Date of publication: 2019-07-19
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Drug crisis ravages Myanmar's Shan State
Description: "Myanmar is the second-biggest producer of opium in the world after Afghanistan and is now believed to be the largest source of methamphetamine. In Shan state, heroin and meth use here are rampant and the region lies at the epicentre of Myanmar's drug crisis..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "AFP news agency"
Date of publication: 2019-02-20
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: What does China’s Belt and Road have to do with Myanmar’s meth problem?
Description: "If Myanmar is to break an addiction to methamphetamine production that has seen it become one of the world’s largest suppliers there is one country above all others that must act: China. That’s according to a report released on Tuesday that highlighted how complexities in the relationship between the two countries are being exploited by armed separatists who are producing thousands of tonnes of the drug in the “Golden Triangle” of Myanmar’s Shan state, an area that is already the world’s second-largest heroin-producing region. Chemicals used in the production of the drug have been flowing over the state’s border with China, according to the NGO International Crisis Group (ICG), which says China should take a tougher line against the drug-producing armed separatist groups seen as being under its influence. China has a complex relationship with the groups, many of which arose out of the splintering of the Communist Party of Burma and claim an ideological and cultural kinship with the People’s Republic of China. As Patrick Winn, an expert on organised crime in Southeast Asia, says: “You can see the fallout from the Chinese civil war written into the landscape of the drug trade today.”..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "South China Morning Post"
Date of publication: 2019-01-08
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-15
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar: Meth capital of the world.
Description: "In Myanmar authorities are battling a deepening drugs crisis. This week police seized more than 10 million meth pills, with an estimated street value of almost 12 million euros. It's another massive seizure in a country thought to be the world's largest producer of methamphetamine. The northeastern Shan state is the epicenter of the country's meth production, with a network of local armed groups linking up with transnational trafficking gangs. Rampant drug use in Myanmar is sparking worries, as drug gangs push cheap pills to a growing number of addicts..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: DW News
Date of publication: 2019-03-05
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: 2011 Patterns and Trends of Amphetamine-Type Stimulants and Other Drugs, Asia and the Pacific
Description: "The East and South-East Asia region, which is home to about one-third of the global population, has one of the most established amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) markets in the world, primarily for methamphetamine. Since the late 1990s, the illicit manufacture, trafficking and use of ATS have expanded significantly in the region. These trends continued in 2010. The present report highlights the most current patterns and trends of amphetamine-type stimulants and other drugs of use in East and South-East Asia and provides overviews for the neighbouring regions of South Asia and the Pacific. This is the latest in a series of reports prepared under the Global Synthetics Monitoring: Analyses, Reporting and Trends (SMART) Programme. The objective of the Global SMART Programme is to enhance the capacity of Member States and relevant authorities to generate, manage, analyse, report and use synthetic drug information, in order to design effective, scientifically-sound and evidencebased policies and programmes. The findings of the report are based on primary information submitted by the drug control agencies and designated institutions in Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam, via the Drug Use Information Network for Asia and the Pacific (DAINAP) established through the Global SMART Programme. Information from DAINAP is supplemented with data from other Government sources such as national reports, the Annual Reports Questionnaire, and through primary and secondary research. Australia, Japan, New Zealand and Republic of Korea also provided data to the Global SMART Programme for this report. All 15 countries that contributed to this report reported significant levels of ATS use. In several of those countries, ATS drugs, particularly methamphetamine (in pill or crystalline form), have emerged as the primary drug threat in recent years, in some cases displacing traditionally used plant-based drugs such as heroin, opium or cannabis. It is estimated that between 3.5 and 20.9 million persons in East and South-East Asia have used amphetamines in the past year..."
Source/publisher: UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime)
Date of publication: 2011-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 9.34 MB
more
Title: Regional Programme for East Asia and the Pacific 2009 - 2012
Sub-title: Report on Operations in 2011 and Future Prospects
Description: Four new Border Liaison Offices (BLOs) were established on the border between Cambodia and Viet Nam, with an expanded mandate to deal with all forms of crossborder trafficking and smuggling (not just drugs). Twelve other existing BLOs have been identified for mandate expansion, in the same two countries, beyond their current focus on drug control. Multi-agency national committees were established in Cambodia and Viet Nam to oversee the work of the new-style BLOs, demonstrating national commitment to improving cooperation between agencies dealing with different types of cross-border crime (including drugs, smuggling of people, natural resources and hazardous goods). Collection and sharing of regional data concerning production, smuggling, and use of Amphetamine Type Stimulants (ATS) and other drugs through the SMART programme continues to improve year after year. There is clear evidence to show that the data is being used in the region to help inform policy making. New Global e-Learning products (also known as Computer Based Training) were developed. New training modules for Smuggling of Migrants, Trafficking in Persons, Wildlife Crime and Human Rights are now in production. Access to information on migrant smuggling in the region (in support of the Bali Process) continues to improve with UNODC support. Research papers have been produced and steady progress is being made towards establishing a regional voluntary reporting system on migrant smuggling. In Indonesia, capacities of stakeholder institutions, NGOs and communities have been strengthened in Papua Province to help combat illegal logging and the illicit trade in forest products. Background research on child-sex tourism in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam has been largely completed, in preparation for the implementation of ‘Project Childhood’ in collaboration with INTERPOL. This has included legislative review/gap analysis, institutional profiling and a review of current training programmes for law enforcement officials on combatting child-sex tourism. The need for improved national mechanisms and enhanced cross-border cooperation to support victims of human trafficking has been effectively advocated, based on preliminary research and dialogue with senior government officials in Cambodia and Thailand.
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime)
Date of publication: 2012-04-00
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 982.22 KB
more
Title: South-East Asia: Opium Survey 2011
Description: "The Lao PDR Opium Survey 2011 was undertaken and produced by the Government of Lao PDR and UNODC. From 2005 to 2011, the survey methodology has consisted of an aerial survey by helicopter covering sample sites in opium poppy producing provinces in northern Lao PDR. Like in 2010, the survey focused on four Provinces (Phongsaly, Houaphan Luang Namtha and Xieng Khouang). Observations show that the poppy cultivation was concentrated in two of these provinces, namely Phongsaly and Houaphan. Cultivation in Luang Namtha and Xieng Khouang had become marginal in the past years, however, in 2011 some large concentrations were spotted in Luang Namtha. Although no survey took place in Oudomxay province, the survey team received information that some poppy was growing again in the North of this province. Opium poppy cultivation In 2011, opium poppy cultivation was found in all of the four surveyed provinces. The total area under opium poppy cultivation in the Lao PDR expanded to 4,100 hectares in 2011 (an increase of 38% from 2010) with a confidence interval from 2,500 ha to 6,000 ha. In spite of this increase, the overall level of opium poppy cultivation in the country remains low compared to a decade ago. Following the trend noticed over the last two years, more fields are gathered in strings covering the mountainsides around the villages, which might indicate that cultivation is becoming more common..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime)
Date of publication: 2011-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 4.81 MB
more
Title: World Drug Report 2012
Description: "Chapter I of this year’s World Drug Report provides an overview of recent trends and the drug situation in terms of production, trafficking and consumption and the consequences of illicit drug use in terms of treatment, drugrelated diseases and drug-related deaths. Chapter II presents a long-term perspective on the characteristics and evolution of the drug problem and the main factors that shaped it. It starts with a discussion of the main characteristics of the contemporary drug problem, followed by an overview of the shifts observed over the last few de cades, before concluding with an analysis of the driving factors that shaped the evolution of the drug problem, including a brief outlook for its likely future direction. CHAPTER I. RECENT STATISTICS AND TREND ANALYSIS OF ILLICIT DRUG MARKETS Latest available data indicate that there has been no significant change in the global status quo regarding the use, production and health consequences of illicit drugs, other than the return to high levels of opium production in Afghanistan after a disease of the opium poppy and subsequent crop failure in 2010. But while the troubled waters of the world’s illicit drug markets may appear to be stagnant, shifts and changes in their flows and currents can be observed below the surface. These are significant and also worrying, not because of how they currently impact on the data but because they are proof of the resilience and adaptability of illicit drug suppliers and users and because of the potential future repercussions of those shifts and changes in the world’s major drug markets. The global picture The extent of global illicit drug use remained stable in the five years up to and including 2010, at between 3.4 and 6.6 per cent of the adult population (persons aged 15-64). However, some 10-13 per cent of drug users continue to be problem users with drug dependence and/or drug-use disorders, the prevalence of HIV (estimated at approximately 20 per cent), hepatitis C (46.7 per cent) and hepatitis B (14.6 per cent) among injecting drug users continues to add to the global burden of disease, and, last but not least, approximately 1 in every 100 deaths among adults is attributed to illicit drug use. Opioids continue to be the dominant drug type accounting for treatment demand in Asia and Europe and also contribute considerably to treatment demand in Africa, North America and Oceania. Treatment for cocaine use is mainly associated with the Americas, while cannabis is the main drug causing treatment demand in Africa. Demand for treatment relating to the use of amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) is most common in Asia..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime)
Date of publication: 2012-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 12.33 MB
more
Title: 2012 Patterns and Trends of Amphetamine-Type Stimulants and Other Drugs: Asia and the Pacific
Description: "Amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) are the second most widely used class of drugs worldwide, after cannabis. The East and South-East Asia region, which is home to about one-third of the global population, has some of the largest and most established ATS markets in the world. Methamphetamine in pill, powder and crystalline forms are the most widely used forms of ATS in the region. Demand for ecstasy remains high, although its use has declined. Since the late 1990s, the illicit manufacture, trafficking and use of ATS have expanded significantly in the region. These trends continued in 2011. The present report highlights the most current patterns and trends of amphetamine-type stimulants and other drugs of use in East and South-East Asia and provides overviews for the neighbouring regions of South Asia and the Pacific. This is the latest in a series of reports prepared under the Global Synthetics Monitoring: Analyses, Reporting and Trends (SMART) Programme. The objective of the Global SMART Programme is to enhance the capacity of Member States and relevant authorities to generate, manage, analyse, report and use synthetic drug information, in order to design effective, scientifically-sound and evidencebased policies and programmes. The findings of the report are based on primary information submitted by the drug control agencies and designated institutions in Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam, via the Drug Abuse Information Network for Asia and the Pacific (DAINAP) established through the Global SMART Programme. Information from DAINAP is supplemented with data from other Government sources such as national reports, the Annual Reports Questionnaire, and through primary and secondary research. Australia, Japan, New Zealand and Republic of Korea also provided data to the Global SMART Programme for this report..."
Source/publisher: UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime)
Date of publication: 2012-12-00
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 1.39 MB
more
Title: Patterns and Trends of Amphetamine-Type Stimulants and Other Drugs: Challenges for Asia and the Pacific
Description: "The market for amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) in the Asia and the Pacific region continued to expand in 2012. Seizures of methamphetamine in pill and crystalline forms reached record highs while methamphetamine use increased in most countries in East and Southeast Asia, according to government expert perception. Illicit methamphetamine manufacture continued to spread throughout the region and new markets emerged for a variety of other synthetic substances. Ecstasy use, which had been in decline over the past several years, increased in a number of countries in 2012 while ecstasy seizures more than tripled compared with the previous year. Moreover, the range of new psychoactive substances (NPS) found in the region continued to increase. This report highlights the most current patterns and trends of amphetamine-type stimulants and other drugs of use in East and Southeast Asia and provides overviews for the neighbouring regions of South Asia and the Pacific Island States and Territories. This is the latest in a series of reports prepared under the Global Synthetics Monitoring: Analyses, Reporting and Trends (SMART) Programme. The Programme seeks to enhance the capacity of Member States and authorities in priority regions to generate, manage, analyse and report synthetic drug information, and to apply this scientific evidence-based knowledge to design effective responses. A primary objective of this report is to help in improving the ability of states to respond to the growing human security and public health threats posed by the illicit manufacture, trafficking and use of synthetic drugs in the Asia and the Pacific region. The findings of this report are based on primary information submitted by the drug control agencies and designated institutions in Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam, via the Drug Abuse Information Network for Asia and the Pacific (DAINAP) established through the Global SMART Programme. Information from DAINAP is supplemented with data from other government sources such as national reports, the UNODC Annual Reports Questionnaire, and through primary and secondary research. Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the Republic of Korea also provided data to the Global SMART Programme for this report..."
Source/publisher: UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime)
Date of publication: 2013-11-00
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 4.6 MB
more
Title: Regional Programme for Southeast Asia 2014 - 2017
Sub-title: Promoting the rule of law and health to address drugs and crime in Southeast Asia
Description: "This Regional Programme (RP) document outlines the proposed scope and focus of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) work in Southeast Asia2 from 2014 to 2017, to be carried out by UNODC, under the lead of the Regional Office for Southeast Asia and the Pacific based in Bangkok (ROSEAP), making effective use of expertise and infrastructure available in UNODC Headquarters, as well as the UNODC field office network in Southeast Asia3 . A strong emphasis will be placed on pursuing cooperation with relevant regional partnership mechanisms and frameworks such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Greater Mekong Sub-region Memorandum of Understanding on Drug Control. The RP outlines the framework for delivering a coherent programme of work, and aims to:  Give clear focus to supporting Member States in achieving priority drugs and crime outcomes in the region; and  Increase the responsiveness, efficiency and effectiveness of UNODC’s support to the region. The proposed programme of work has been developed in close consultation with countries of the region and other regional partners, and the situation analysis includes:  A profile of UNODC’s global strategy, governing bodies and mandates  A brief description of the broad regional development context  An overview of the key drugs and crime challenges facing the region. Particular attention is given to: (i) transnational organised crime and illicit trafficking; (ii) anti-corruption; (iii) terrorism prevention; (iv) criminal justice; and (v) drugs and health, and alternative development  A profile of regional institutions and initiatives relevant to UNODC’s mandates and work  A profile of UNODC in the region, including past and current activities, key partners and lessons learned from implementation of the previous UNODC Regional Progamme Framework..."
Source/publisher: UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime)
Date of publication: 2013-11-06
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 979.8 KB
more
Title: Southeast Asia Opium Survey 2013
Description: "While the area under poppy cultivation in Myanmar increased by 13% in 2013, the number of households growing poppy remained roughly the same, as farmers on average dedicated a larger portion of their land to poppy cultivation than in 2012. The average area of poppy per opium growing household more than doubled from 0.17 hectares in 2002/2003 to 0.43 hectares in 2013. This implies a larger dependency of those households on opium. Furthermore, the Myanmar survey found that many households not only earn income from the cultivation of opium poppy on their own land, but also by labouring in the poppy fields of other farmers. Alternative development projects thus need to address both of these groups, as a reduction in poppy cultivation for many households means the loss of an opportunity to generate income from poppy-related wage labour. There is a strong link between poverty and poppy cultivation. In poppy-growing villages in Myanmar, significantly higher proportions of households are in debt and are exposed to food insecurity than in non-poppy-growing villages. Furthermore, households in poppy-growing villages on average suffer longer from food insecurity than households in non-growing villages. Thus, in poppy-growing villages, opium cultivation seems to be a means to earn cash income in order to purchase food in months when households’ food resources have been depleted. In other words, poppy farmers try to compensate for a lack of alternatives in their opportunities for earning income in order to subsist. Income patterns in poppy-growing and non-poppy growing villages in Myanmar are complex and differ in much more than just poppy cultivation. Despite indicators of greater vulnerability (as seen in higher levels of debt, food insecurity and drug use), households in poppy-growing villages in all regions, with the exception of East Shan, had a higher average income than those in nonpoppy-growing villages. On the other hand, households in non-poppy-growing villages had better access to salaried jobs and petty trade. In Lao PDR, no socio-economic survey of poppy-growing villages was conducted in recent years. The data from the helicopter flights and satellite image analysis indicated that poppy cultivation continued to be a phenomenon linked to villages in peripheral, difficult to access locations, far from population and market centres. Risks and opportunities associated with different income patterns in poppy-growing and nonpoppy growing villages need to be investigated in more detail in Myanmar but also in Lao PDR to understand how livelihood risks can be reduced and the resilience of households can be improved in the context of efforts to contain and reduce households’ dependence on poppy cultivation..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime)
Date of publication: 2013-06-12
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 6.94 MB
more
Title: The Challenge of Synthetic Drugs in East and South-East Asia and Oceania
Sub-title: Trends and Patterns of Amphetamine-type Stimulants and New Psychoactive Substances
Description: "This report analyses recent trends and developments of the synthetic drugs market in East and South-East Asia and Oceania, comprising both amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) and new psychoactive substances (NPS). NPS are substances of abuse that are not controlled by the International Drug Conventions but which may pose a public health threat. In this context, the term ‘new’ does not necessarily refer to new inventions but to substances that have recently become available.1 East and South-East Asia and Oceania has the largest ATS market in the world and in recent years the scope and availability of NPS has rapidly expanded. Moreover, this synthetic drugs market is becoming more complex and interconnected with other regions. These developments warrant an in-depth study to understand the current threat and impact of ATS and NPS in East and South-East Asia and Oceania within a global context. The analysis of the synthetic drug problem in the region is essential to complement the understanding of the illicit market for synthetic drugs called for in the 2009 Political Declaration and Plan of Action on International Cooperation towards an Integrated and Balanced Strategy to Counter the World Drug Problem. The availability of quality data and information-sharing in the region has improved with the support of the Drug Abuse Information Network for Asia and the Pacific (DAINAP), which offers a regional control mechanism for drug monitoring.2 However, the quality of data and information on some aspects of the synthetic drugs market remains limited. Particularly, demand-related data on the extent and pattern of use, and treatment remains scarce. And yet, methamphetamine and other synthetic drugs that pose a serious health threat to users seem to become increasingly available and are a challenge for health care providers and drug control authorities. Challenges in reducing the supply and demand for synthetic drugs Methamphetamine continues to dominate the synthetic drugs market in East and South-East Asia and is mainly available in two forms: methamphetamine tablets and crystalline methamphetamine. Increasing methamphetamine seizures and expert perception of high levels of methamphetamine tablet and crystalline methamphetamine use indicate the presence of a large and possibly expanding market in East and South-East Asia.3 For some years, the “ecstasy”4 market has been concentrated in parts of Oceania. Recently, according to expert perception, there is an emerging “ecstasy” market in parts of East and South-East Asia with use reported in Indonesia and countries in the Mekong sub-region.5 Addressing the trafficking of synthetic drugs in East and South-East Asia involves a number of difficulties. Over the last several years, countries in East and South-East Asia and Oceania have experienced rapid economic expansion. For instance, the share of the regions’ global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) based on purchasingpower-parity (PPP), is estimated to have increased from about 10 per cent in 2000 to over 30 per cent in 2014 at a value of more than US$ 28 trillion.6 Except for a sharp drop in 2009, exports and imports to and from countries in East and South-East Asia and Oceania have also significantly increased over the years. Between 2002 and 2013, imports and exports more than tripled to more than US$ 6.5 trillion and 6.9 US$ trillion respectively..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime)
Date of publication: 2015-05-00
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf pdf
Size: 9.34 MB 2.78 MB
more
Title: Protecting peace and prosperity in Southeast Asia: synchronizing economic and security agendas
Description: "This report outlines the need to strengthen links between Southeast Asia’s economic integration agenda and its security agenda. The region is committed to rapidly developing economic connections but attention is lagging towards the security impacts that accompany these developments. Regional integration expands licit economic opportunities, but illicit markets tend to develop at the same time. Where cross-border infrastructure and trade facilitation initiatives are expanding, organised crime groups have demonstrated the capacity to seize new opportunities to expand cross-border crime. ASEAN member states have committed to expand the regional economic market through far-reaching fast moving integration. Physical and non-physical barriers are being removed to ensure more practical and efficient border crossings for people, goods and money. This process is accompanied by a number of infrastructure initiatives that will enhance connectivity between trading partners and increase access to previously remote areas. For trade and infrastructure planners, the dominant concept of border management is shifting from ‘control’ to ‘facilitation’. However, the positive effects of economic growth need to be safeguarded by making trade, migration, and sensitive areas more secure. The expected growth of cross-border trade and migration calls for novel measures to monitor and secure the people and goods moving internationally. This requires robust and streamlined procedures; law enforcement and security agencies will need to work closely with trade and infrastructure planners and developers. Currently, the ASEAN institutional agenda for countering transnational crime is not moving at the same speed as the trade and migration side of the integration agenda.1 This report provides a brief overview of economic integration and infrastructure plans and initiatives intended to connect the ASEAN region internally and with other regions, particularly neighbouring India and China. It begins by analysing relevant trade agreements and progress in expanding transport networks around the region and connections to other regions. The analysis includes observations on where the risks for negative social and environmental impacts are high. Following that, there are four sections that provide a non-exhaustive overview of sub-regions with pronounced transnational crime challenges. Recent increases in the trafficking of drugs and precursor chemicals, humans, and counterfeit goods, as well as environmental crimes, warrant special attention in managing international flows in these geographic areas. Projections of future threats underline the importance of taking action now..."
Source/publisher: UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime)
Date of publication: 2016-02-00
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 1.94 MB
more
Title: Working Paper: Reframing Alternative Development in the Greater Mekong Subregion (2015)
Description: "This working paper (the Paper) aims to contribute to greater consistency in the approaches to alternative development (AD) and related practices in Southeast Asia, and particularly, among the countries of the 1993 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Drug Control in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS). Although some reviews of alternative development in the GMS have been written, most have been countryspecific with a focus on Thailand. Accordingly, there have been very limited comparative studies of alternative development processes across all the countries in the GMS. Similarly, there is a shortage of studies and analysis that delineate what practices, methods and approaches have worked best in the region. At the MOU Senior Official Committee (SOC) and Ministerial meetings held in Ha Noi, Viet Nam from 19 to 21 May 2015, the MOU countries identified this as a critical gap. It was also highlighted that there were differing approaches, with subsequently varying practices, to alternative development currently being implemented in the GMS and this was hampering collective efforts. The MOU countries agreed that in order to better address persistent challenges related to illicit crop cultivation, there was a need to achieve greater consistency and regional synergy in alternative development approaches in the Subregion. This could be achieved through the sharing of best practices and experiences, and identification of what works..."
Source/publisher: UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime)
Date of publication: 2015-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 4.24 MB
more
Title: The Challenge of Synthetic Drugs in East and South-East Asia
Topic: Trends and Patterns of Amphetamine-type Stimulants and New Psychoactive Substances
Sub-title: A Report from the Global SMART Programme June 2017
Topic: Trends and Patterns of Amphetamine-type Stimulants and New Psychoactive Substances
Description: "There is no sign of respite in the expansion of the methamphetamine market in East and South-East Asia. Seizures of both forms of methamphetamine - tablets and crystalline - reached record highs in 2015, and most countries in the region noted increasing use of methamphetamine. • Both the number and the scale of illicit methamphetamine manufacture facilities continue to increase to meet the rapidly rising demand for methamphetamine in the region. In 2015, approximately 630 illicit synthetic drug manufacturing facilities were dismantled in the region. Of these, the majority were methamphetamine manufacturing facilities. • The retail prices of crystalline methamphetamine in countries in East and South-East Asia are high, and might be a key driver for intensified intra-regional and inter-regional methamphetamine trafficking. • Substantial quantities of precursor chemicals, which can be used for manufacture of methamphetamine, have been seized in the region with recent trends indicating a diversification of precursors and methods used. • Tablets sold as “ecstasy” in the region contain various substances other than MDMA, including new psychoactive substances (NPS). • The production of opiates in the region has been relatively stable between 2013 and 2015 but remains at a comparatively high level. Heroin trafficking and use remains a key concern in the region. • A wide range of new psychoactive substances have been identified in East and South-East Asia. These include potent synthetic opioids, such as derivatives of fentanyl , which have been implicated in the ongoing opioid overdose crisis in North America..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime)
Date of publication: 2017-06-00
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 2.9 MB
more
Title: Government of Myanmar and UNODC hold drug day conference and strategic consultations in Nay Pyi Taw
Description: "The Government of Myanmar convened a special national conference to mark the 29th International Day against Drug Use and Illicit Trafficking in Nay Pyi Taw today, with speeches, displays and activities highlighting the impact of drugs on the health and security of the country and surrounding region. Attended by the Vice President, Minister of Home Affairs, Minister of Health, dozens of senior officials, UNODC regional leadership and experts, diplomats and media, the event featured findings of the 2017 World Drug Report and the latest regional and national data, along with discussions about strategies and plans to address the situation. The conference is part of an ongoing effort of the Government of Myanmar to reconsider the situation and solutions given the significance of the drug problem in the country. Opium poppy cultivation in the Golden Triangle has levelled off after tripling over the last decade, with production mainly concentrated in Shan State but with some production also in Kachin and parts of Chin State. At the same time methamphetamine production and trafficking continues on an upward trajectory mirroring the expansion and diversification of illicit drug markets in Southeast Asia..."
Source/publisher: UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime)
Date of publication: 2017-06-26
Date of entry/update: 2019-06-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
more
Title: Myanmar hosts talks on Asia Pacific strategy to control drug making chemicals
Description: "High-level delegations from East, South and Southeast Asia are in the capital of Myanmar, Nay Pyi Taw, to consider the deteriorating synthetic drug situation in the region and negotiate a new strategy to address the diversion and trafficking of precursor chemicals used in production. "We are very pleased these discussions are underway", remarked Myanmar Vice Minister of Home Affairs Major General Aung Thu. He continued, "we put ourselves forward to co-host at the last Mekong MOU negotiations, and we reminded the region that precursors are required for synthetic drug production to continue to go up. While we are a significant source of illicit drugs, we are not a source of the chemicals." Methamphetamine production and trafficking in the region has reached alarming levels in recent years, with seizures to-date in 2018 already exceeding records set in 2017. Supply from the Golden Triangle vastly exceeds market demand in the surrounding Mekong region and Southeast Asia, and it is a primary source of supply for Australia, Japan, Korea and New Zealand. The oversupply of methamphetamine has led to declining street prices across the region, with yaba tablets now available for $1-$5 USD down from $5 -$15 USD in 2014. A similar decline in the price of crystal methamphetamine has taken place across region, making both forms of the drug more affordable and accessible. At the same time, powerful synthetic opioids like fentanyl are being produced, diverted and trafficked in and from the region to North America and recently Australia, where they are being mixed into the opiate and heroin markets to maximise profits. Significant illicit production of ketamine has also been found in the Golden Triangle, primarily for export to China and Thailand, and it is increasingly being trafficked across the region in mixed shipments with methamphetamine..."
Source/publisher: UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime)
Date of publication: 2018-11-07
Date of entry/update: 2019-06-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
more
Title: Myanmar opium cultivation declines sharply, except in some conflict areas: UN report
Description: "The total area of opium poppy cultivation in Myanmar has decreased significantly in 2017 to 41,000 hectares, down 25% from the 55,500 recorded in 2015, according to the Myanmar Opium Survey 2017 released today by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Reductions have been most significant in East Shan with a drop of 37% and South Shan with a drop of 29%. However, the report also reveals that while progress has been made, North Shan and Kachin states have seen reductions of less than 3% and 7%, which on the ground amounts to a decrease of only 600 hectares in total. Reductions in cultivation have been somewhat offset by a greater yield per hectare with potential opium production dropping 14% from 2015 levels. The report reconfirms the link between conflict and opium in Myanmar, and that insecure areas with active insurgencies continue to cultivate and produce at levels similar to 2015. Jeremy Douglas, UNODC Regional Representative, noted that "the connection between governance and security on the one hand and poverty and conflict on the other is undeniable. We will continue to assist the transition from a dependence on opium to alternative and sustainable economic opportunities. But it cannot be done in isolation from the peace process, and we will need access to additional territory."..."
Source/publisher: UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime)
Date of publication: 2017-12-06
Date of entry/update: 2019-06-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
more
Title: Myanmar holds high level negotiations with Mekong countries and UNODC to address deteriorating drug situation
Description: "Senior drug policy leaders from the Mekong region -Cambodia, China, Lao, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam- are in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) this week for a conference of the Mekong MOU on Drug Control to discuss the illicit drug situation in the region, and to negotiate a new strategic plan. The conference brings together the leadership of Mekong drug authorities and over 100 senior delegates and experts to consider the latest data, and for detailed discussions on drug law enforcement, justice, health and alternative development strategies and programmes, while reviewing the implementation of the last Mekong strategy that the countries agreed. "Illicit drug challenges are not only a national issue, and to ensure our recently announced drug policy succeeds we need to focus on the situation and implementation including with regional partners" said Myanmar Deputy Home Minister Major General Aung Soe. "This meeting is a step forward, allowing us to discuss issues and priorities with our neighbours and UNODC, including improving law enforcement cooperation and standards for community based drug treatment." He added, "A top priority for us (Myanmar) is a regional precursor strategy that will slow the supply of chemicals and pharmaceutical products into drug producing areas of the Golden Triangle." The Mekong has long been associated with the production and trafficking of illicit drugs, particularly heroin, but has undergone significant transformation in recent years. Opium and heroin production have recently declined, while organized crime have intensified production and trafficking of both low grade yaba methamphetamine and high purity crystal methamphetamine to alarming levels - several Mekong countries have already surpassed 2017 seizure totals only a few months into 2018, and Golden Triangle methamphetamine is being seized in high volumes in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Malaysia, Indonesia. The shift to synthetics like methamphetamine is particularly difficult for countries to address due to the complexity of responding to remote and clandestine production that can be moved, but also due to the health impacts on drug users..."
Source/publisher: UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime)
Date of publication: 2018-05-21
Date of entry/update: 2019-06-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
more
Title: Myanmar opium cultivation continues to drop as regional drug market changes: UNODC report
Description: "The area of opium poppy cultivation in Myanmar dropped to 37,300 hectares (ha) in 2018, down 10% from the 41,000 ha recorded in 2017, according to the Myanmar Opium Survey 2018 released today by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Reductions in cultivation have taken place in practically all regions, but have been most significant in South Shan with a decline of 17% and Kachin State with a decline of 15%, followed by East Shan and North Shan declining 8% and 7%. With an average yield of 14 kg per ha in 2018 total opium production dropped from 550 to 520 metric tons, equivalent to approximately 53 tons of heroin destined for the domestic and regional drug markets. The report reconfirms the link between conflict and opium in Myanmar, with the highest levels of cultivation continuing to take place in unstable areas of Shan and Kachin states. Troel Vester, UNODC Country Manager, noted that "entrenched poverty and opium cultivation in Myanmar are closely connected..."
Source/publisher: UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime)
Date of publication: 2019-01-11
Date of entry/update: 2019-06-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 5.34 MB
more
Title: Methamphetamine use in Myanmar, Thailand, and Southern China: assessing practices, reducing harms - မြန်မာ၊ ထိုင်းနှင့် တရုတ်တောင်ပိုင်းဒေသရှိ မက်အမ်ဖီတမင်းသုံးစွဲမှု - သုံးစွဲမှုအလေ့အထများနှင့် အန္တရာယ်လျှော့ချရေးလုပ်ငန်းများကို လေ့လာဆန်းစစ်ခြင်း
Description: ''Over the past decade, methamphetamine use has grown more popular in Myanmar, Thailand and Southern China. Based on in-depth interviews conducted with individuals who use methamphetamine, this briefing sheds light on the importance of promoting an environment that reinforces, rather than undermines, the ability of people who use methamphetamine to regulate their drug use, preserve their health and adopt safer practices. Over the past decade, methamphetamine use has grown more popular in Myanmar, Thailand and Southern China. The substance has become more easily available, while prices have either decreased or remained at low levels. A similar trend has been observed across the entire region, despite a sharp increase in drug seizures and related arrests. This situation highlights the ineffectiveness of current policies, mainly based on repression, to curb the availability and consumption of methamphetamine. Methamphetamine tablets are the most popular form of amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) in the region, in particular in Myanmar. However, crystal methamphetamine, commonly known as “ice”, is strengthening its position on the market. While methamphetamine tablets are mostly smoked, crystal methamphetamine has a greater potential to be injected and is also a more potent substance. It therefore carries specific health risks that need to be addressed through the lens of public health, rather than criminal justice...'' "ာစုနှစ်နှောင်းပိုင်းကတည်းက စိတ်ကြွဆေးဝါးသုံးစွဲမူသည် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ၌သာမက ထငို ်း နငှ တ့် ရတု ေ် တာငပ် ငို ်း ဒေသတွေထိပါ အထူးတလည် တွင်ကျယ်ပျံ့နှံ့လာနေသည်။ ဈေးအတော်ပေါသည့် အခြေအနေမှ ဈေးပြန် တက်လာခြင်းမရှိသေးဘဲ အကျဖက်ကိုပင် ဦးတည်လာနေသည့်အတကွ ် နေရာတကာ၌ လယွ ်လင့်တကူဖြင့် ဝယ်ယူရရှိနေကြသည်။ မူးယစ်ဆေးဝါး ဖမ်းဆီးရမိမှုနှင့် ဆက်စပ်အဖမ်းအဆးီ များ တစရ် နှိ ်ထိုးမြငတ့် ကလ် ာခဲ့ သောလ် ည်းဒေသကြီးတလွှား အလားတူအခင်းအကျင်းမျိုး အားကောင်းကောင်းဖြင့် အရှိန်ရလာခဲ့သည်။ အခြေအနေအရပ်ရပ်က မက်အမ်ဖီတမင်း လက်လှမ်းမီရရှိနိုင်မှုနှင့် သုံးစွဲမှုကိုလျှော့ချရန် ဖိနှိပ်ချုြပ်ခယမ် ကှု ို အသားပေးထားသည့် လက်ရှိမူဝါဒများ၏ ထိရောက်မှု အားနည်းပုံကို မီးမောင်းထိုးပြလျက်ရှိသည်။ တိုက်ဒေသကြီးတစ်ခုလုံး အထူးသဖြင့် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ၌ မက်အမ်ဖီတမင်းသည် ရေပန်းစားလူကြိုက်အများဆုံး အမ်ဖီတမင်းအမျိုးအစား စိတ်ကြွဆေး (ATS) ဖြစ်လာသည်။ တစဖ် ကတ် ငွ လ် ည်း “ရေခဲ” ဟလု သူ မိ ျားသည့် မကအ် မဖ် တီ မင်းအကြညသ် ညလ် ည်း ဈေးကကွ တ် ငွ ်းသ့ိုအားကောင်းကောင်းဖြင့်ဝငေ် ရာကလ် ာလျကရ် သှိ ည်။ မက်အမ်ဖီတမင်းဆေးပြားများကို အငွေ့ပုံစံဖြင့်သာ ရှုရှိုက်ကြသော်လည်း ပိုမိုအာနိသင်ပြင်းသည့် မက်အမ် ဖီတမင်းအကြည်သည် အကြောထဲထိုးသွင်းအသုံးပြုနိုင်သည်အထိ ပျောဝ် ငန် ငို စ် မွ ်း ရေှိ နသည။် သြ့ိုဖစ၍် ရေခဲ သည်ပြစ်မှုဆိုင်ရာ တရားစီရင်ရေးရှုထောင့်မှမဟုတ်သည့် ပြည်သူ့ကျန်းမာရေးအမြင်ဖြင့် ကိုင်တွယ်ဖြေရှင်း ရမည့် ဆက်စပ်ကျန်းမာရေးအန္တရာယ်များကိုပါ ဆောင်ကျဉ်းလာခဲ့သည်။ သးုံ စမွဲ ပှု စုံ ခံ ျင်း သာ ကာွ ခြားမရှု ေှိ သာလ် ည်း အလာွှ ပေါင်း စ၌ုံ မကအ် မဖ် တီ မင်း သးုံ စမွဲ သှု ည် တွင်တွင်ကျယက် ျယ် ပျံ့နှံ့လျက်ရှိသည်။ မက်အမ်ဖီတမင်းသးုံ စွဲမှုသည် ခေတ်လူငယ်များအကြား၌သာမက ညဆိုင်းအလပု သ် မား များနှင့် ခက်ခဲပင်ပန်းသည့် ကာယလုပ်သားများအကြား၌လည်း ရေပန်းစားတွင်ကျယသ် ည့် လမူ ေှု ရးအလေ့ အထကြီးတစ်ရပ် ဖြစ်လာသည်။ စိတ်ကြွဆေးပြားသုံးစွဲမူကို ခြေခြေမြစ်မြစ်နားလည်သိမြင်လိုပါက အဆိုပါ ဆေးဝါးများက ဆောငက် ျဥ်း ပေးလာနငို သ် ည့် ကောင်း ကျိုးအလားအလာများကိုပါ သုံးသပ်အသိအမှတ်ပြုရန် လိုအပ်ပါလိမ့်မည်။ အခြားတစ်ဖကတ် ွင်လည်း ဆေးပြားသုံးစွဲသူများသည် ယင်းနှင့်ဆက်စပ်လျက်ရှိသည့် နောက်ဆက်တွဲဆိုးကျိုးများကို သိမြင်နားလည်ထားကြသူများဖြစ်သည်။ မက်အမ်ဖီတမင်းသုံးစွဲမှုနှင့် ဆက် စပ်ထွက်ပေါ်လာသည့် အန္တရာယ်များကို လျှော့ချရန်အတွက် သုံးစွဲသူများ၏ အတွေ့အကြုံများနှင့် နည်းနာ များကို များစွာလေ့လာသင်ယူရန် လိုအပ်နေဆဲဖြစ်သည်။ ATS နှင့်ပတ်သက်ပြီး ဘက်လိုက်မှုကင်း၍ ယုံကြည်အားထားရလောက်သည့် အထောက်အထားအခြေပြု သတင်းအချက်အလက်များကို လက်လှမ်းမီနိုင်မှု အလွန်နည်းပါးလျက်ရှိသည်။ ရလဒ်အနေဖြင့် သးုံ စသွဲ ူများ ကိုယ်တိုင် မိမိတို့၏ ကျန်းမာရေးကိုအရင်းပြု၍ လက်တွေ့စမ်းသပ် သုံးစွဲခြင်းဖြင့်သာလျှင် ဤဆေးဝါးများ၏ နောက်ဆက်တွဲဆိုးကျိုးများကို မြည်းစမ်းသင်ယူကြရတော့သည်။ အလွှာပေါင်းစုံမှ လူများစွာသည် မိမိတို့၏ ဘဝသက်တမ်းအတွင်း တစ်ကြိမ်မဟုတ်တစ်ကြိမ် မက်အမ်ဖီတမင်းသုံးစွဲရသည့် အတွေ့အကြုံကို မြည့်စမ်း တတ်ကြသဖြင့် နည်းပညာသစ်များ အသုံးပြုခြင်းအားဖြငေ့် သာလ် ည်း ကောင်း သတင်း အချကအ် လကမ် ျားကို အများပြည်သူ ကျယ်ကျယ်ပြန့်ပြန့် လက်လမှ ်း မလီ ာနငို ေ် အာင် ဆောင်ရွက်ပေးရန် မဖြစ်မနေလိုအပ်ပါသည်။ ..."
Creator/author: Renaud Cachia, Thura Myint Lwin
Source/publisher: Transnational Institute (TNI)
Date of publication: 2019-05-09
Date of entry/update: 2019-05-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English, Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
Format : pdf pdf
Size: 1.86 MB 3.72 MB
more
Title: Asia's War On Myanmar's Meth Trade - (video)
Description: "Asia's Meth Trade: The methamphetamine trade in Asia has developed at a breakneck pace, taking advantage of geography, civil war and burgeoning demand to ship its products from Japan to Australia. Across Southeast Asia, separatist militias fund their operations through either engaging in or enabling this trade, whilst state forces desperately try to stem the tide of drugs crossing their borders..."
Creator/author: Pailin Wedel
Source/publisher: Al Jazeera
Date of publication: 2019-05-17
Date of entry/update: 2019-05-18
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
more
Title: Asia's Meth Boom | 101 East - (video)
Description: ''Methamphetamines are flooding into countries across Asia. But where do the drugs come from, and who is profiting from feeding the world’s addiction? 101 East travels to the notorious “Golden Triangle” to investigate what’s driving Asia’s meth boom and why authorities are powerless to stop it. With rare access to the borderlands of Myanmar, the world’s largest meth producer, 101 East meets leaders of rebel armies who are often blamed for the country’s drug production and explores whether the nation’s military could be involved. On the front line of the drug war, 101 East joins a patrol with the Thai military as they try to stop the massive flow of methamphetamines coming across the border from Myanmar. In a recent bust, Thai authorities seized 300 kilograms of crystal meth. If it had reached Australia, the drugs, known as ‘ice’, would have been worth $180 million. But despite record-breaking amounts of meth being seized across the region, authorities estimate they are only catching about 20 per cent of it. The rest can end up anywhere from construction sites in Thailand, where laborers use the drug to help them work long hours, to wealthier countries like Australia, where young people take the drug to party...''
Creator/author: Pailin Wedel
Source/publisher: Al Jazeera
Date of publication: 2019-04-11
Date of entry/update: 2019-04-13
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English, Thailand
more
Title: Methamphetamine use in Myanmar, Thailand, and Southern China: assessing practices, reducing harms
Description: ''Over the past decade, methamphetamine use has grown more popular in Myanmar, Thailand and Southern China. Based on in-depth interviews conducted with individuals who use methamphetamine, this briefing sheds light on the importance of promoting an environment that reinforces, rather than undermines, the ability of people who use methamphetamine to regulate their drug use, preserve their health and adopt safer practices. Over the past decade, methamphetamine use has grown more popular in Myanmar, Thailand and Southern China. The substance has become more easily available, while prices have either decreased or remained at low levels. A similar trend has been observed across the entire region, despite a sharp increase in drug seizures and related arrests. This situation highlights the ineffectiveness of current policies, mainly based on repression, to curb the availability and consumption of methamphetamine. Methamphetamine tablets are the most popular form of amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) in the region, in particular in Myanmar. However, crystal methamphetamine, commonly known as “ice”, is strengthening its position on the market. While methamphetamine tablets are mostly smoked, crystal methamphetamine has a greater potential to be injected and is also a more potent substance. It therefore carries specific health risks that need to be addressed through the lens of public health, rather than criminal justice...''
Source/publisher: Transnational Institute (TNI)
Date of publication: 2019-02-18
Date of entry/update: 2019-02-20
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
more
Title: Why Myanmar can’t shake its drug problem
Description: ''Myo Min knows all too well about the negative effects of excessive drug use. He started using methamphetamines more than a decade ago after being pressured to try it by some friends, and quickly graduated to heroin. Since then, he has seen it all: sleepless nights, failing health, fights with his family, paranoia, and tragedy. Several years ago, a close friend became so paranoid from using drugs that he jumped from the fourth floor of a building to his death. Despite all of this, Myo Min hasn’t managed to get himself completely clean. “It is much easier now to buy yaba compared to before,” he said, referring to Thai word for the cheap methamphetamine pill. “I sometimes use yaba now, although not as much as before. Now I think I have things more under control.” Myo Min’s experience is not unique in Myanmar, where health workers say that drug use is becoming increasingly common in many communities across the country...''
Creator/author: Oliver Slow, Win Zar Ni Aung
Source/publisher: Asia Times
Date of publication: 2019-01-25
Date of entry/update: 2019-01-26
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
more
Title: The 9th Asian Informal Drug Policy Dialogue
Description: ''In regards to current drug trends, particularly methamphetamine (both in crystal and pill form) has become increasingly accessible and affordable throughout Asia, reflecting the trend of rising use of amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) in the region. Governments in the SEA region have implemented different kinds of national drug policy reform, including diversion programmes (Indonesia and Cambodia), harm reduction measures (Malaysia and Myanmar), and steps towards decriminalisation of cannabis cultivation and use for medical and scientific purposes (Thailand). The scale of illicit cultivation of crops continues to be largely influenced by various socioeconomic and political factors such as poverty, conflict, and weak institutions, both in Myanmar and Afghanistan. In areas affected by conflict, households often grow opium poppy as a means of survival in an environment where markets are not accessible. Lessons can be learned, for instance, from experiences in Thailand or Colombia. The Thai experience demonstrates the importance of integrated rural development as a foundation of AD measures, addressing short-term needs as well as long-term sustainability. This includes community planning, inclusive value-chain development and sustainable land management, among other aspects. Experiences regarding coca cultivation areas and the recent peace agreement in Colombia confirm that multi-stakeholder dialogue is important for being able to access local communities and building trust...''
Source/publisher: Transnational Institute (TNI)
Date of publication: 2018-05-31
Date of entry/update: 2019-01-09
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 397.01 KB
more
Title: The other China boom - China?s youth are driving a booming trade in recreational drugs, turning neighbouring Myanmar into a meth lab (video)
Description: "China?s youth are driving a booming trade in recreational drugs, turning neighbouring Myanmar into a meth lab. In a hidden corner of Asia, where two dramatically different and rapidly changing nations collide, a disturbing trade is taking hold that is endangering lives around the world. With money to burn, China?s non-stop party people are turning to drugs in unprecedented numbers, turning neighbouring Myanmar into a meth lab and driving a resuscitation of the bad old days of big-time trade in the Golden Triangle?s devastating narcotic heroin. The epic size and industrial scale of the new Asian drug supply is staggering. Intercepts of the methamphetamine Ice or the ingredients necessary for its manufacture are toted up in tonnages. But given authorities only manage to uncover a fraction of the trade that begins in Myanmar, and pours into China, a deadly dangerous drug is in overwhelming flood. Heroin and other dangerous drug traffic are tearing out of a newly unshackled Myanmar and into booming, cashed-up China, infecting towns and big cities that have not experienced a rampant, deadly drug culture before. Beyond China, narcotics and amphetamines are streaming out to western markets. Connect with 101 East Reporter Stephen McDonell takes us right into the heart of the tear-away trade, on patrol with China?s drug police struggling against the tide of illicit drugs often carried by poor Myanmar mules prepared to risk everything for a couple of hundred dollars..."
Creator/author: Stephen McDonell
Source/publisher: Al Jazeera (101 East)
Date of publication: 2014-01-03
Date of entry/update: 2014-01-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
more
Title: Hpa-an Photo Set: BGF production and sale of yaba in T?Nay Hsah and Ta Kreh townships
Description: "This photo set includes three still photographs selected from images taken by a KHRG community member; one was taken in April 2013 and two were taken in June 2012. The photographs were taken in T?Nay Hsah Township, Hpa-an District and depict a tablet form of methamphetamine for sale, which is known locally as yaba, meaning ?crazy medicine? in Thai. The yaba pictured below was manufactured and sold by the Border Guard Force (BGF) Battalion #1016?s commander, Mya Khaing, who is based in T?Nay Hsah Township. According to the community member who took these photos, the sale of the drug is pervasive throughout T?Nay Hsah and Ta Kreh townships and has seriously harmed many teenage villagers? lives and put some families in debt as a result.....No pdf format.
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
Date of publication: 2013-07-04
Date of entry/update: 2013-08-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
more
Title: Hpa-an Situation Update: T?Nay Hsah Township, June 2012 to February 2013
Description: "This report includes a situation update submitted to KHRG in February 2013 by a community member describing events occurring in T?Nay Hsah Township, Hpa-an District between June 2012 and February 2013. The report describes monks demanding money and labour from villagers for the building of roads and pagodas. Also detailed in this report is the loss of money and possessions by many villagers through playing the two-digit lottery. Further, the report describes the cutting down of forest in Yaw Ku and in Kru Per village tracts by the DKBA and the BGF, including 30 t?la aw trees, which villagers rely upon for their housing; the Tatmadaw have also designated land for sale without consulting local villagers. This report also describes the prevalence of amphetamine use and sale in the area, involving both young people and armed groups including the BGF, KPF and DKBA. Finally, the report details the ongoing danger posed by landmines, which continue to stop villagers from going about their livelihoods and are reportedly still being planted by armed groups..."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
Date of publication: 2013-06-05
Date of entry/update: 2013-07-27
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 241.74 KB
more
Title: Patterns and Trends of Amphetamine-Type Stimulants and Other Drugs, Asia and the Pacific, 2012 (Myanmar section and full report)
Description: Emerging trends and concerns: • Myanmar remains a major source of methamphetamine pills and opiates in South-East Asia, most of which are manufactured in Shan State in the eastern part of the country. • For the first time, a crystalline methamphetamine manufacturing facility was seized in 2012. • Large amounts of methamphetamine in pill and crystalline form originating from Myanmar continue to be seized in neighbouring countries. • Precursor chemicals are trafficked from neighbouring countries to methamphetamine manufacturing centres located near Myanmar?s eastern border, where Government control remains limited. • Preliminary data for 2012 suggests that seizures of illicit drugs and their precursor chemicals have increased significantly. • Opium poppy cultivation has increased in Myanmar for six consecutive years
Source/publisher: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
Date of publication: 2012-12-00
Date of entry/update: 2012-12-13
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 141.5 KB
more
Title: Myanmar: Situation Assessment on Amphetamine-Type Stimulants
Description: "...According to the latest Myanmar Situation Assessment on Amphetamine-Type Stimulants (ATS), the manufacture, trafficking and consumption of synthetic drugs in the country and region is worsening. Published by UNODC, the report indicates that the impact of methamphetamine and other ATS trafficked from Myanmar affects not only the country?s immediate neighbours but also parts of East and South-East Asia. Speaking on this, Deepika Naruka, East Asia and the Pacific Regional Coordinator for the Global Synthetics Monitor: Analyses, Reporting and Trends (SMART) Programme, noted: "There are indications that the methamphetamine problem in Myanmar is becoming more severe. In 2009, large seizures of high purity crystalline methamphetamine were made in Myanmar. Authorities in both Myanmar and Thailand confirm that the manufacture of crystalline methamphetamine is now occurring in the Golden Triangle..."
Source/publisher: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
Date of publication: 2010-12-20
Date of entry/update: 2010-12-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 2.94 MB
more
Title: Withdrawal Symptoms - Changes in the Southeast Asian drugs market
Description: The Golden Triangle is closing a dramatic period of opium reduction?, wrote UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa in his preface to the 2007 survey on Opium Poppy Cultivation in South East Asia. ?A decade long process of drug control is clearly paying off.? According to the survey, the region produced one-third of world opium production in 1998, now down to only about 5 percent. The once notorious region ?can no longer be called Golden Triangle on the reason of opium production alone.? There has clearly been a significant decline in opium production in Southeast Asia over the past decade in spite of a resurgence in Burma (Myanmar) in the last two years. In this study, we try to assess the causes and consequences, and come to the conclusion that the region is suffering a variety of ‘withdrawal symptoms?, leaving little reason for optimism. The rapid decline has caused major suffering among former poppy growing communities in Burma and Laos, making it difficult to characterise developments as a ‘success story?. Meanwhile, the market of amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) has increased rapidly and higher heroin prices are leading to shifts in consumer behaviour. While the total numbers of opium and heroin users may be going down, many have started to inject and others have shifted to a cocktail of pharmaceutical replacements, representing largely unknown health risks. Confronted with harsh domestic repression and little support from the international community, both farmers and users in the region are struggling to find coping strategies to deal with the rapid changes. Drug control officials have presumed that reducing opium production would automatically lead to a reduction in drug consumption and drugrelated problems. The reality in Southeast Asia proves them wrong. Had quality treatment services been in place, more drug users may have chosen that option. In the absence of adequate health care and within a highly repressive law enforcement environment, however, most are forced to find their own ‘solutions?. Harm reduction services are still only accessible to a tiny proportion of those who need them in the region, even though most countries have now adopted the basic principles in their policy framework. China, especially, has started to significantly scale up needle exchange and methadone programmes to prevent a further spreading of blood-borne infections. In 1998, the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting signed the declaration for a Drug-Free ASEAN by 2020 and two years later even decided to bring forward the target year to 2015. Countries elaborated national plans to comply with the deadline putting huge pressure on rural communities to abandon poppy cultivation and traditional opium use and on police to arrest as many users and traders as possible. This also led to the 2003 ‘war on drugs? in Thailand in which thousands of drug users and small-scale traders were killed. The 2008 status report on progress achieved towards making ASEAN and China drug-free, ?identifies an overall rising trend in the abuse of drugs?, however, and acknowledges that ?a target of zero drugs for production, trafficking and consumption of illicit drugs in the region by 2015 is obviously unattainable?. This TNI publication makes extensive use of the research carried out by our team of fifteen researchers working in Burma, Thailand, Laos and Yunnan province in China. Hundreds of interviews were conducted with farmers, users and traders. We cannot thank them enough for their motivation and courage. Most prefer to remain anonymous and continue their research to detect new trends and help fill gaps in knowledge that have become apparent while writing this first report. A more detailed publication incorporating their latest findings is due at the end of this year. We intend to discuss our outcomes with authorities, civil society and researchers in the region with a view to contributing to a better understanding of the changes taking place in the regional drugs market and to design more effective and humane drug policy responses for the future.
Creator/author: Tom Kramer, Martin Jelsma
Source/publisher: Transnational Institute (TNI) Debate Papers No. 16
Date of publication: 2008-08-00
Date of entry/update: 2010-08-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
more
Title: Patterns and Trends of Amphetamine-Type Stimulants and Other Drugs in East and South-East Asia (and neighbouring regions) 2009 - Myanmar
Description: Overview of drug use (Myanmar): "The main drugs of use in Myanmar during the past decade have been heroin which is primarily injected and opium which is primarily smoked. Prevalence estimates vary, but the number of opioid users are likely in the hundreds of thousands (UNODC, 2004). Emerging in the mid-1990s, methamphetamine has become a prominent drug of concern. Since 2004, methamphetamine has ranked third in terms of use behind the two leading drugs. Since 2005, methamphetamine has accounted for about a quarter of all drug related arrests, while heroin and opium together have accounted for more than half. A survey in 2005 conducted by the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control (CCDAC) among high school students in the towns of Tamu, Muse, Tachilek, Myawaddy and Kawthaung indicates low lifetime prevalence rates for this sub-population of youth. With the exception of cough syrups, drug use prevalence was less than 2%. However, the survey points out that results may have been higher had the survey been expanded to include the significant number of youth who did not attend high school. Illicit manufacture of methamphetamine, primarily in pill form (yaba), continues, particularly in the Shan, Wa, and Kokang autonomous region. The political situation in Myanmar in 2009 is unsettled, with open hostilities between government and ethnic groups previously under cease fire agreement. This instability could affect the current illicit drug production and trafficking dynamics in the region. There is a likelihood that these changing conditions will serve as a push factor for increasing the trafficking of illicit drugs and could result in the relocation of clandestine manufacturing sites across the border. Also, the areas along the Lao PDR and Cambodia border could experience increased trafficking activity with the possibility that clandestine lab operations may be established in these areas..."
Source/publisher: UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
Date of publication: 2009-11-00
Date of entry/update: 2009-11-29
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf pdf
Size: 516.41 KB 5.75 MB
more

Pages