Prison Official Arrested With Meth Tablets in Irrawaddy Region

By Salai Thant Zin 19 November 2018

PATHEIN, Irrawaddy Region — Police in Irrawaddy Region on Friday arrested a prison official transporting methamphetamine tablets hidden inside small cartons of milk.

Acting on a tip, police stopped the motorbike of Myaungmya Prison Deputy Assistant Supervisor U Maung San as he was driving past the correction center and found more than 2,200 of the tablets packed in plastic bags hidden inside the cartons.

“We have opened a case against him. He said that he was only carrying a parcel sent by someone from Yangon to the prisoner. We are still investigating him,” Captain Aung Min Zaw, commander of the Myaungmya Township police station, told The Irrawaddy.

He said the package was intended for delivery to a prison inmate named Ko Soe Naing.

This is the first time on record that narcotics have been seized from a prison official in Myaungmya.

U Thant Zaw Win, a lawmaker in the Irrawaddy Parliament representing Myaungmya, called on police and prison officials to stop drug trafficking in prisons.

“It is quite unacceptable. This case mars the image of not only the town but also the entire Corrections Department. Concerned agencies know much better than us how to stop drug smuggling into the prisons. Concerned staff and police officers know well the methods to stop this. It is important that concerned departments handle their staff urgently,” he said.

Police have opened a case against both U Maung San and Ko Soe Naing under the Narcotics Drug and Psychotropic Substance Law.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.