Bangladesh is the worst victim of Myanmar’s drug economy
MYANMAR authorities have seized more than 10 million ‘meth’ pills worth US$13.3 million over the weekend. Myanmar is the largest methamphetamine producer and Bangladesh is the worst victim while the high-grade crystal meth — or ‘ice’ — is smuggled out of Myanmar to lucrative markets like Japan, South Korea and Australia. Lower-quality pills, cut with caffeine and known in the region as “Yaba”, are pumped out to feed the voracious domestic market as well as large drug-addicted communities in nearby Thailand and Bangladesh. We think, after operating the illegal drug kingdom for decades, the recent capture of a drug consignment by the Myanmar security forces is nothing but a mere eyewash.
Myanmar police said that the pills were likely destined for Bangladesh, where they have become an easy source of income for the Rohingya Muslim refugees who have poured across the border since 2017 after military crackdown. Most of the drug production, however, takes place inside Myanmar’s conflict-ridden eastern Shan state. Opium farming is also rife, and Myanmar remains the world’s second largest producer of the drug after Afghanistan. The poppy-covered hills also provide an ideal location for illicit meth labs, with a largely unchecked supply of precursor chemicals flooding in from China.
The law enforcers in Bangladesh have so far killed 300 suspected drug smugglers and peddlers when the ‘war against drug’ began in May last year. But cut down the supply chain of Yaba could not be possible except making the pills over-pricy. The law enforcement agencies have failed to stop the smuggling of the narcotics as the domestic network of the drug smugglers are still unharmed. On the other hand, the government in the years failed to convince the Myanmar to destroy the border side factory of Yaba pills.
Myanmar is the epicentre of the drug trade in South-East Asia. Its drug economy is closely related to armed-conflicts with the rebel ethnic groups. The International Community must come forward to create pressure on Myanmar government so that it will take hard-line against the production of illegal drugs, especially farming of poppy. Bangladesh is the worst sufferer of Myanmar’s flexible mood to narcotics production.
Myanmar police said that the pills were likely destined for Bangladesh, where they have become an easy source of income for the Rohingya Muslim refugees who have poured across the border since 2017 after military crackdown. Most of the drug production, however, takes place inside Myanmar’s conflict-ridden eastern Shan state. Opium farming is also rife, and Myanmar remains the world’s second largest producer of the drug after Afghanistan. The poppy-covered hills also provide an ideal location for illicit meth labs, with a largely unchecked supply of precursor chemicals flooding in from China.
The law enforcers in Bangladesh have so far killed 300 suspected drug smugglers and peddlers when the ‘war against drug’ began in May last year. But cut down the supply chain of Yaba could not be possible except making the pills over-pricy. The law enforcement agencies have failed to stop the smuggling of the narcotics as the domestic network of the drug smugglers are still unharmed. On the other hand, the government in the years failed to convince the Myanmar to destroy the border side factory of Yaba pills.
Myanmar is the epicentre of the drug trade in South-East Asia. Its drug economy is closely related to armed-conflicts with the rebel ethnic groups. The International Community must come forward to create pressure on Myanmar government so that it will take hard-line against the production of illegal drugs, especially farming of poppy. Bangladesh is the worst sufferer of Myanmar’s flexible mood to narcotics production.
