More Amphetamines Seized near Burmese Border

Thai authorities seized about 300,000 amphetamine tablets in Mae Sai near Tachilek Township on the Burmese-Thai border on Sunday.

Speaking to the The Irrawaddy on Monday, a source in the Burmese police at Tachilek said two Burmese and three Thai nationals were arrested early on Sunday morning while traveling by car in Mae Sai after crossing the border from Tachilek Township.

The police source said traffickers had purchased 300,000 amphetamine tablets in Tachilek Township and smuggled them past the Burmese checkpoint, but they were arrested by Thai authorities in Mai Sai.

Though heroin seizures for 2009 in Thailand reported by Thailand’s Office of Narcotics Control Board on Sept. 6 were at almost 114 kg, down from 200 kg reported for 2008, opium seizures were up almost eightfold at 40,612 kg from 5,708 kg in 2008.

Amphetamine seizures over the same period were 14.3 million tablets in 2009 and 22.1 million for 2008. 

According to a report in The New York Times on Sept.30, Thai authorities believe the ethnic groups are converting drugs to cash to pay for weapons in the predicted battle with the Burmese junta forces after the rise in tension in Shan State in recent months.

This year, Burmese authorities have reported at least nine seizures of illegal drugs in Tachilek, an increase from previous years.

Burmese authorities have reportedly strengthened their crackdown on illegal drugs in the border townships of Laogai and Tachilek, seizing about 1,000 kilograms of heroin and 340,000 amphetamine pills—the largest illegal drugs haul reported in Burma this year—in Tachilek in July alone.

Burma’s Myanmar News Agency said authorities burned 11.9 million amphetamine tablets and other drugs seized between August and October in Laogai on Oct 31.

Reported drugs seizures in Laogai included a haul of 370,000 amphetamine tablets found in a cave near Laogai on Sept.30.

Burmese narcotics police in Tachilek said many illegal drugs come from the United Wa State Army (UWSA)-controlled area in Phangsang Township. The UWSA is considered the biggest player in Shan State’s illicit drugs business.

In January, authorities found 89 kg of heroin in a container on the Singaporean-flagged ship Kota Tegap in Rangoon’s Asia World Port Terminal.

A report issued by the US State Department in March said Burma "is a significant player in the manufacture and regional trafficking of amphetamine-type stimulants." It said large amounts of drugs from Burma end up in Thailand.

The Burmese military regime has reported destroying 7,893 acres of opium poppy fields in Shan and Kachin states during this year's growing season.

Burma remains the world's second largest producer of heroin after Afghanistan, according to US and UN experts.