Meth ‘Super Labs’ Said to Thrive in Myanmar Coup Chaos, Spilling Drugs Across Mekong
Voice of America
BANGKOK - Methamphetamine from the super labs of lawless eastern Myanmar is surging as organized crime thrives in the instability caused by the February coup there, experts have told VOA, flooding neighboring countries with narcotics and carving out new channels to reach old markets.
The rugged ungovernable Myanmar borderlands in Shan state are home to what is by many estimates the world’s largest meth trade, orchestrated by the drug lords of the Golden Triangle, an area at the juncture of China, Thailand and Laos. Countless metric tons of precursor chemicals are moved into the Golden Triangle and then the drugs, mainly meth pills (yaba), the highly addictive crystal meth (ice), and heroin, are sent back across the same borders. Myanmar’s coup removed the civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi. Myanmar has been pitched into chaos since, with more than 1,000 pro-democracy protesters killed by police and the army, which is now fighting multiple ethnic groups and now facing the declaration of war by anti-coup rebels.Journalists lay down their equipment as they protest the latest draft revision of the broadcasting law, which they consider a threat to press freedom, in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, on May 27, 2024. Journalists protest the latest draft revision of the broadcasting law, which they consider a threat to press freedom, in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, on May 27, 2024.
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