The Associated Press
Thursday, March 12, 2009
YANGON, Myanmar: Law enforcement officials in Myanmar seized more than 1.3 million methamphetamine tablets last month, a 25-fold increase over January's total, a report said Thursday.
The state-run Myanma Ahlin daily reported that police, military and customs officials in February seized about 1,300 pounds (630 kilograms) of assorted narcotic drugs and drug-making chemicals including almost 840 pounds (380 kilograms) of opium — from which heroin is derived — and more than 1.3 million methamphetamine tablets.
According to earlier reports, more than 55,000 stimulant tablets were seized in January and more than 221,000 in December.
The most recent U.S. State Department report on the international illicit drug trade said Myanmar "is a significant player in the manufacture and regional trafficking of amphetamine-type stimulants."
Myanmar, also known as Burma, is also the world's second largest producer of heroin after Afghanistan, according to U.S. and U.N. experts, although the Central Asian country leads by a long shot, accounting for 90 percent of the world's production of the narcotic.
The amount of heroin seized in February was only about 6 pounds (2.5 kilograms) compared to nearly 330 pounds (150 kilograms) in January, when a shipment of heroin bound for foreign markets was seized on a ship in Yangon's port and another cache was found in a shipment of crabs.
Source: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2009/03/12/asia/AS-Myanmar-Drugs.php
Thursday, March 12, 2009
YANGON, Myanmar: Law enforcement officials in Myanmar seized more than 1.3 million methamphetamine tablets last month, a 25-fold increase over January's total, a report said Thursday.
The state-run Myanma Ahlin daily reported that police, military and customs officials in February seized about 1,300 pounds (630 kilograms) of assorted narcotic drugs and drug-making chemicals including almost 840 pounds (380 kilograms) of opium — from which heroin is derived — and more than 1.3 million methamphetamine tablets.
According to earlier reports, more than 55,000 stimulant tablets were seized in January and more than 221,000 in December.
The most recent U.S. State Department report on the international illicit drug trade said Myanmar "is a significant player in the manufacture and regional trafficking of amphetamine-type stimulants."
Myanmar, also known as Burma, is also the world's second largest producer of heroin after Afghanistan, according to U.S. and U.N. experts, although the Central Asian country leads by a long shot, accounting for 90 percent of the world's production of the narcotic.
The amount of heroin seized in February was only about 6 pounds (2.5 kilograms) compared to nearly 330 pounds (150 kilograms) in January, when a shipment of heroin bound for foreign markets was seized on a ship in Yangon's port and another cache was found in a shipment of crabs.
Source: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2009/03/12/asia/AS-Myanmar-Drugs.php
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