Authorities in Myanmar publicly destroyed nearly $300 million worth of illegal drugs on Thursday as part of a nationwide crackdown marking the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.
In major cities including Yangon, Mandalay, and Taunggyi, officials torched and buried large quantities of confiscated substances such as opium, heroin, methamphetamine, marijuana, ketamine, and crystal meth, also known as “ice.” Yangon Police Brigadier General Sein Lwin, speaking at a ceremony in the country’s largest city, said over $117 million worth of drugs were incinerated there alone.
These events come on the heels of a United Nations warning about record-high levels of meth production and trafficking emerging from Southeast Asia’s Golden Triangle—a region where the borders of Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand intersect. The area has long been a hub for opium and heroin manufacturing, largely due to the lack of centralized control and the presence of ethnic militias, some of which have ties to the drug trade.
According to a May report from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Myanmar’s escalating political crisis since the 2021 military coup has significantly fueled the methamphetamine industry. The resulting civil conflict has created further instability, giving organized crime networks more freedom to operate.
State-run media reported that a total of 66 types of narcotics, with an estimated value of $298 million, were destroyed simultaneously across the three cities.
Myanmar’s role in global drug production is deeply rooted in its decades-long internal conflict and economic instability. Despite repeated crackdowns, the country remains a key supplier of illicit drugs to markets across East and Southeast Asia—and increasingly, South Asia as well. The UN has noted a surge in trafficking through Myanmar’s borders into countries like India and Cambodia, often via Laos and various maritime routes that pass through Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. The Malaysian state of Sabah has emerged as a central transit point.
In 2023, the UN classified Myanmar as the world’s top opium-producing country, underscoring the ongoing challenges the region faces in curbing drug production and trafficking.
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