• Burmese
Tuesday, July 15, 2025
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Irrawaddy
28 °c
Yangon
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
No Result
View All Result
The Irrawaddy
No Result
View All Result
Home News Burma

Regional Links Aiding Drug Syndicates in Burma: UNODC

Andrew Kaspar by Andrew Kaspar
August 20, 2014
in Uncategorized
Reading Time: 2 mins read
0 0
A A
Regional Links Aiding Drug Syndicates in Burma: UNODC

Bags of methamphetamine pills seized by Thai authorities are displayed in Ayutthaya province

3.4k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

RANGOON — Regional integration offers greater opportunities to narcotics producers and traffickers in Burma, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said on Wednesday, at a time when Asia’s demand for methamphetamines shows signs of accelerating.

The warning represents a darker take on a regional push to better connect infrastructure and economies, and facilitate the trans-border movement of people. That integration is typified by efforts to create an Asean Economic Community by 2015 and extends to projects aimed at better linking Burma to its giant Asian neighbors China and India.

“Organized crime groups are well positioned to take advantage of regional integration agreements to expand the trafficking of synthetic drugs and precursor chemicals” said Jeremy Douglas, the UNODC’s regional representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, according to a statement.

RelatedPosts

Pills Pour Over Border from India to Fuel Burma’s Narcotics Boom

Pills Pour Over Border from India to Fuel Burma’s Narcotics Boom

August 9, 2016
3.8k
Militia-Backed Rangoon High-Rise Defies Govt Suspension Orders

Militia-Backed Rangoon High-Rise Defies Govt Suspension Orders

August 5, 2016
6.2k
Lawmakers Blame Burma’s Drug Problem on Warlord-Govt Nexus

Lawmakers Blame Burma’s Drug Problem on Warlord-Govt Nexus

August 4, 2016
4.5k

“Capacities to ensure the rule of law vary greatly across the region, and this evolving and growing threat diverts increasing amounts of scarce state resources away from efforts to develop and improve governance,” he added, ahead of a regional anti-narcotics conference that began on Wednesday in Rangoon.

Citing “significant volumes” of drug seizures made in neighboring nations and traced to Burma, the UNODC said the country remains a major source of methamphetamine pills, known locally as yaba, and crystal methamphetamine. The country is Southeast Asia’s largest producer of synthetic drugs, with smugglers transporting precursor chemicals into Burma and shipping the finished products out, taking advantage of the country’s porous borders.

“While most of the methamphetamine produced in East and Southeast Asia is consumed within the region, large quantities are also being trafficked to nearby major markets like Japan, Australia and New Zealand, and more recently to neighboring South Asia,” the UNODC said, adding that transnational criminal syndicates were diversifying their trafficking routes and methods of drug production.

A top Burmese anti-narcotics official on Wednesday called for greater cooperation among regional governments to combat the problem.

“No country can tackle these challenges alone, and there is no doubt we need improved training and support for frontline law enforcement and justice officers, especially along the Mekong corridor and in remote areas of the region,” said Police Lt-Gen Kyaw Win of the Ministry of Home Affairs’ Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control.

Earlier this week, the UNODC warned that the narcotics trade endangered Burma’s reform program and put fragile peace negotiations with ethnic armed rebel groups in border regions at risk.

“Criminal activity in Myanmar is undermining development efforts, increasing human insecurity and threatening the peace process,” the UNODC’s Douglas said on Monday.

That warning came as the UNODC signed a 2014-17 country program with Burma’s government, focusing on five broad areas of concern: transnational organized crime; anti-corruption; criminal justice; drugs and health; and alternative development for opium poppy farmers.

In addition to the methamphetamine woes highlighted by the UNODC on Wednesday, Burma is the world’s second largest producer of opium, the precursor to heroin.

Eastern Burma is part of the so-called “Golden Triangle,” along with Thailand and Laos. The mountainous hinterlands—and in particular Shan State—have for decades been home to the region’s most intensive opium cultivation.

Your Thoughts …
Tags: Drug & Crime
Andrew Kaspar

Andrew Kaspar

Similar Picks:

Video Journalist Recounts a Death Amid the Chaos
Burma

Video Journalist Recounts a Death Amid the Chaos

by Myat Su Mon
September 27, 2013
9.5k

Yan Naing, a video journalist at the Democratic Voice of Burma tells of capturing the shooting of Kenji Nagai during...

Read moreDetails
Actor Min Oak Soe Sentenced to Life for Employee’s Murder
Burma

Actor Min Oak Soe Sentenced to Life for Employee’s Murder

by Htun Htun
July 30, 2015
7.3k

Burmese actor and director Min Oak Soe is sentenced to life imprisonment for the brutal December murder of his former...

Read moreDetails
Experts Reject Claims of ‘Rohingya Mujahideen’ Insurgency
Burma

Experts Reject Claims of ‘Rohingya Mujahideen’ Insurgency

by Paul Vrieze
July 15, 2013
21.6k

Security experts say it is possible that some militant Rohingyas have contacted Indonesian hardline Muslim groups, but they dismiss reports...

Read moreDetails
Wa Tycoon’s Jade Ties Exposed in New Report
Burma

Wa Tycoon’s Jade Ties Exposed in New Report

by Seamus Martov
December 4, 2015
9.1k

A new report by Global Witness exposes links between the United Wa State Army (UWSA) and Burma’s notoriously shady jade...

Read moreDetails
Activists Urge Harsher Penalty for Child Rape Case in Burma
Burma

Activists Urge Harsher Penalty for Child Rape Case in Burma

by The Irrawaddy
August 6, 2013
7.6k

A restaurant owner in Rangoon is sentenced to eight years in prison for raping a 15-year-old girl, the victim’s lawyer...

Read moreDetails
Book Details Coming Struggle to Kick Burma’s Drug Habit
Burma

Book Details Coming Struggle to Kick Burma’s Drug Habit

by Bertil Lintner
March 24, 2016
5.2k

Burma’s struggle to curb the illicit narcotics trade across its border with China and other neighbors is among the major...

Read moreDetails
Load More
Next Post
Japan’s Polarizing PM Abe Learns the Long Game

Japan’s Polarizing PM Abe Learns the Long Game

American Slain in Bali

American Slain in Bali, Daughter Had Troubled Past 

No Result
View All Result

Recommended

Trump’s Tariffs to Hit Myanmar’s Garment Manufacturers Hard

Trump’s Tariffs to Hit Myanmar’s Garment Manufacturers Hard

6 days ago
1.3k
China’s Surveillance State Watches Everyone, Everywhere

China’s Surveillance State Watches Everyone, Everywhere

7 days ago
1.1k

Most Read

  • Myanmar Junta’s ‘Living Fence’ on Thai Border Falls to Karen Resistance

    Myanmar Junta’s ‘Living Fence’ on Thai Border Falls to Karen Resistance

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Myanmar Junta Launches Space Agency With Russian Help

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • ‘Las Vegas in Laos’: the Riverside City Awash With Crime

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • TNLA Invites Investment in Ruby and Mineral Towns Amid Myanmar Junta Onslaught

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Two Myanmar Migrants Still Languish in Thai Jail Over Min Aung Hlaing Protest

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Newsletter

Get The Irrawaddy’s latest news, analyses and opinion pieces on Myanmar in your inbox.

Subscribe here for daily updates.

Contents

  • News
  • Politics
  • War Against the Junta
  • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
  • Conflicts In Numbers
  • Junta Crony
  • Ethnic Issues
  • Asia
  • World
  • Business
  • Economy
  • Election 2020
  • Elections in History
  • Cartoons
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Commentary
  • Guest Column
  • Analysis
  • Letters
  • In Person
  • Interview
  • Profile
  • Dateline
  • Specials
  • Myanmar Diary
  • Women & Gender
  • Places in History
  • On This Day
  • From the Archive
  • Myanmar & COVID-19
  • Intelligence
  • Myanmar-China Watch
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Food
  • Fashion & Design
  • Videos
  • Photos
  • Photo Essay
  • Donation

About The Irrawaddy

Founded in 1993 by a group of Myanmar journalists living in exile in Thailand, The Irrawaddy is a leading source of reliable news, information, and analysis on Burma/Myanmar and the Southeast Asian region. From its inception, The Irrawaddy has been an independent news media group, unaffiliated with any political party, organization or government. We believe that media must be free and independent and we strive to preserve press freedom.

  • Copyright
  • Code of Ethics
  • Privacy Policy
  • Team
  • About Us
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Burmese

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Business
    • Economy
    • Business Roundup
  • Books
  • Donation

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.