Junta Burns nearly $20 Million of Seized Drugs

RANGOON — Burma set ablaze nearly $20 million worth of methamphetamine tablets and other drugs seized after recent fighting with ethnic Kokang rebels that forced more than 30,000 people to flee into China and left 26 government troops dead, state media reported Sunday.

Police said it was the biggest drug seizure in Burma this year, the Myanma Ahlin newspaper said.

In this photo released from Myanmar News Agency (MNA), a mass amount of narcotic drugs are incinerated during a ceremony to destroy narcotic drugs and precursor chemical seized in Kokang area. (Photo: AP)

In a special ceremony Saturday, the government burned 11.9 million methamphetamine tablets and other drugs in Lauk Kai region in northeastern Shan State, where the fighting with the Kokang took place in August, the report said.

Burma's border regions have for decades been the site of clashes between ethnic armies and the ruling military that have displaced hundreds of thousands of people. The Kokang region is best known as a haven for drug smuggling and unregulated gambling.

The Kokang fighting broke out in August after hundreds of Burmese soldiers moved into the region to pressure wary rebels in the traditionally ethnically Chinese area to give up their arms and become border guards. The junta is trying to ensure stability in border regions before next year's national elections, the first in nearly 20 years.

The junta said the three days of fighting killed 26 government soldiers and at least eight rebels, while independent reports said looting was extensive in the region.

Chinese authorities temporarily housed tens of thousands of refugees in makeshift camps in neighboring Yunnan province, and urged Burma to take better care of Chinese citizens.

Kokang leaders Pheng Jia Sheng, Pheng Jia Fu, Pheng Ta Wei and Pheng Jai Xui fled the region after the fighting, and authorities seized a weapons factory and an explosives plant and confiscated the nearly 12 million stimulant tablets from the houses of the Kokang leaders.

The fighting ended in August, but the leaders are still believed to be hiding.

Burma, also known as Myanmar, is largely estranged from the West, but China has maintained close economic and diplomatic ties with the junta, ensuring Beijing's access to its neighbor's vast mineral wealth.