Crystal meth from Myanmar’s northeastern Shan State, a regional drug production hub, is being transported by boat to avoid tighter patrols on land routes through China and Thailand, according to an annual report released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on June 2.
The border area between Myanmar, Laos and Thailand has long been a hotspot for drug production and trafficking, especially methamphetamine and opium, according to AFP.
Increased anti-drug patrols in China’s Yunnan province and along the Thai-Myanmar border have prompted drug trafficking groups to switch to alternative maritime routes, leading to a decline in methamphetamine seizures by Chinese and Thai authorities in 2022.
Crystal meth before being destroyed in Yangon, Myanmar on June 26, 2021.
“Traffickers continue to move large quantities of drugs through Laos and northern Thailand, but are also pushing significant supplies through central Myanmar to the Andaman Sea, where little attention seems to be paid,” said UNODC regional representative Jeremy Douglas.
Large quantities of methamphetamine produced in Myanmar are being smuggled to Bangladesh and India, the report said. Police in Southeast and South Asia seized nearly 151 tonnes of methamphetamine in 2022, down from a record 172 tonnes in 2021.
“The most powerful drug trafficking networks in the region can operate with a high degree of certainty that they can and will not be stopped,” the UNODC report said. Researchers also pointed to evidence that drug trafficking networks are looking to diversify their products.
In 2022, authorities in the region seized a record 27.4 tonnes of ketamine, an anesthetic used as a synthetic drug, up 167% from 2021. In addition, criminal groups are setting up new production centres outside Myanmar, such as Cambodia.
“Cambodia has emerged as a major transit point and to some extent a production point for the regional drug trade. The discovery of a series of clandestine ketamine labs, processing warehouses and storage facilities across the country has raised alarm bells in the region,” said Mr Douglas.
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