Officials in Myanmar have burned confiscated illegal drugs worth $300 million.
“The drugs that have been destroyed are Opium, Heroin, Methamphetamine, Marijuana, Ketamine and the stimulant known as ice or crystal meth.
In the country’s biggest city, Yangon, a massive pile of drugs valued at more than $117 million went up in a blaze,” said Gen Sein Lwin, Yangon Police Brig in a speech at a drug-burning ceremony.
One month back, UN experts warned of unprecedented levels of methamphetamine production and trafficking from Southeast Asia’s Golden Triangle region, where the borders of Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand meet.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in a report that the political crisis across the country after the military takeover in 2021, which led to a civil war, has exponentially increased methamphetamine trade.
Myanmar has a long history of drug production linked to political and economic insecurity caused by decades of armed conflict.
The UN agency labelled Myanmar in 2023 as the world’s largest opium producer.
That has led the flow of drugs to surge “across not only East and Southeast Asia, but also increasingly into South Asia, in particular Northeast India,” said the United Nations last month.
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