YANGON: Myanmar’s junta torched seized narcotics worth an estimated $300 million on Thursday, but a senior police officer said drug hauls were plunging because of intensifying fighting in the country’s civil war.
When the junta seized power in a 2021 coup it sparked conflict between the military and a myriad of opponents, with all sides accused of filling their war chests with proceeds from black market businesses.
Drug production, unregulated mining and online scam centres have all flourished in the chaos since the democratic government was toppled, analysts say.
Myanmar’s home affairs ministry burned confiscated narcotics in three locations across the country on Thursday, which anti-drug police in the capital Naypyidaw said were worth nearly $298 million.
The haul — incinerated to mark International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking — was worth roughly $50 million less than last year’s and $150 million less than the 2023 figure.
A senior anti-drug officer — speaking on condition of anonymity — said “fighting in many places” is “one of the main reasons for our difficulties in cracking down on drug trafficking and production”.
Drugs burned in ceremonies in the cities of Yangon, Mandalay and Taunggyi included more than 1,700 kilograms of heroin, 16,000 kilograms of methamphetamine and 281 million stimulant pills, police said.
Myanmar’s junta is fighting an array of anti-coup guerrillas and ethnic armed organisations which have long been active in the country’s fringes where black markets have flourished.
Home affairs minister Tun Tun Naung said in a message published in state media that “some ethnic armed organisations engage in drug production and trafficking to easily earn income by taking advantage of the lack of peace and stability”.
Analysts have previously said the Myanmar military also has links to highly profitable drug production.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said last month that 2024’s seizures of methamphetamine in East and Southeast Asia were a record high.
Seizures of methamphetamine across the region totalled 236 tons in 2024, marking an “exponential” increase of 24 percent compared to 2023, the agency said.
