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Bangkok: Authorities in Myanmar destroyed more than $US446 million ($668 million) worth of illegal drugs seized from around the country to mark an annual international anti-drug trafficking day on Monday, police said.
The drug burn came as UN experts warned of increases in the production of opium, heroin and methamphetamine in Myanmar, with exports threatening to expand markets in South and South-East Asia.
Myanmar has a long history of drug production linked to political and economic insecurity caused by decades of armed conflict. The country is a major producer and exporter of methamphetamine and the world’s second-largest opium and heroin producer after Afghanistan, despite repeated attempts to promote alternative legal crops among poor farmers.
In the country’s largest city, Yangon, a pile of seized drugs and precursor chemicals worth $US207 million was incinerated. The destroyed drugs included opium, heroin, methamphetamine, marijuana, kratom, ketamine and crystal meth, also known as ice.
The burn coincided with the UN’s International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.
Authorities also destroyed drugs in the central city of Mandalay and in Taunggyi, the capital of eastern Shan state, both closer to the main drug production and distribution areas.
Last year, authorities burned a total of more than $US642 million worth of seized drugs.
Experts have warned that violent political unrest in Myanmar following the military takeover two years ago – which is now akin to a civil war between the military government and its pro-democracy opponents – has caused an increase in drug production.
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