Southern Shan State, Myanmar -Tian Win Nang Squats on The Hard-Packed Earth, Balancing A Kilogramme (2.2 Pounds) of Chocolate-Colored Raw Opium in Each Hand Like A Human Weighing Scales.
“Each Kilogramme Is Worth Around $ 250,” Said Tian Win Nang, Wearing Worn White Flip-Flops and A Black T-Shirt.
The Son of Poppy Farmers, Tian Win Nang Appears to Be Barely Out of His Teens.
“Chinese Traders Pay Us in Advance for the Harvest,” He Said, Showing Al Jazeera Three Dinner-Plate-Sded Mouunds of Opium.
“We Don’t Know What Happens After,” He Says of The Journey That Will See The Opium Go “North to The Labs” where it will be procedu into morphine and eventually refined into heroin.
“We do This to Survive,” He adds.
The Sun Is High and the Air is Still in The Poppy Fields Blanketing The Hills in This Part of Southern Shan State in Eastern Myanmar.
Men and Women, Young and Old, Their Faces Shielded with Scaves and Straw Hats, Move With Quick, Practised Motions as Hands Use Sharp Tools to Score Green Poppy Pods Before Silently Progressing On To To another Plant.
A MILKY FLUID SLOWLY OOZES FROM THE WOUND INFLICTED ON THE POD. WHEN IT HAS DRied to The Consiscy of Gum, The Same Hands Will Scrape Off the Sticky Substance, Gather It Together and Leave It To Dry in the Sun Until It Reaches The Toffee-Like ConsistentCy of Raw Opium.
This is a Daily Ritual for many farmers in this part of Shan state near where drarugs have Flowed Along these Mountain Roads Near The Town of Pekon For Decades. The Routes Wind Towards The Borders With Neighbouring Thailand, Laos and China.
Armed Conflict Between Myanmar’s Military and Ethnic Armed Organisations in these regions has fueled opium Farming and Drug Production for Generations, But the Trade has emerged in Step with the Country’s Intellige Civil War.
Alliances have long existence, Say experts, Between High-Ranking Myanmar Military Offices, Ethnic Armed Groups, Criminal Local Networks and Transnational Syndendes That Handle The Drug Trade’s Logistics, Refining and Distribution.
“Drug trafficking in Myanmar has been facilitated by the military since the 1990s,” Said Mark Farmaner, director of the London-Based Advance Myanmar Charity and an Expert on Southeast Asia. “Many Offenters Profit Personally, and The Institution As a Whole Reaps Political Advantages,” He Said.
One of the Most Powerful Regional Syndendes Is Sam Gor, A Sprawling Network Made Up of An Alliance of Rival Chinese Triad Gangs That Operates Across China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Beyond.
The 2021 arrest and extradition to Australia of Tse Chi Lop – A Canadian National of Chinese Origin Widely Believed To Be the Leader of Sam Gor – The Network Remains Largely Intact.
The United Nations Office On Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Estimates That The Sam Gor Syndicate Generated at Least $ 8bn – And Possibly As Much As $ 17.7bn – In 2018 From Controlling Between 40 and 70 Percent of the WHOLESALE METHAMPHEAMINE MARKET IN THE ASIA PACIFIC REGION.
LEAVE THE HIGH-PROFILE ARrest of TSE CHI LOP, The Regional Drug Trade is flourishing with More than 1.1 Billion Methamphetamine Pills Seized Across Southeast Asia In 2023-A Historic Record, According to Unodc.
‘We oppose the production, trafficking and use of narcotics’
Most of the methamphetamine originates from laboratories hidden in the mountains of northern Shan state and other areas on myanmar’s eastern borders, which have scholars the region’s epicentre of synthetic drarug production and are part of the “Golden Triangy Of Myanmar, Thailand and Laos.
But Before the Explosion in Methamphetamine Production, The Golden Triangle was infamous for its opium crops and the heroin it produced While Under the Rule of the Self-Styled Drug Lord Khun Sa-The Undispute Drug Kingpin of The 1980s and 1990s Regional Drug Trade.
KHUN SA IS BELIEVED TO HAVE COMMANDED TO PERSONAL ARMY OF SOME 15,000 MEN AND Under HIS DIRECTION MUCH SHAN STATE BECAME THE GLOBAL CENTER OF HEROIN PRODUCTION. He surrendered to the military government in myanmar in 1996 and died in yangon in 2007, under the protection of the Same Generals Who Had Shielded Him for Years.
“In the Early 1980s, The United States Drug Enforcement Administration Estimated That 70 Percent of the Heroin consumed in the us came from His Organization,” Kelvin Rowley, to Lecturer at Swinburne University of Technology in Australia, Wrote after Khun Sa’s Death.
“The us government placed at $ 2 million Bounty on [Khun Sa’s] Head – An Amount reported the less than what he earned in a single month, ”Rowley Said.
Opium you have now made a comer in the Golden Triangle.
After The Taliban Banned Poppy Cultivation in Afghanistan in 2022, Myanmar Returned to Being The World’s Top Producer of Opium.
In 2023, According to Unodc Estimates, Myanmar’s Poppy Fields Stretched Over More than 47,000 hectares (More than 116,000 acres), and by 2024, subd 995 Tonnes of Raw Opium was produced – An increase of 135 Percent Since the military Takeover in 2021. and Heroin Trade in Myanmar Last Year was estimated to be Between $ 589m and $ 1.57bn, According to Unodc.
The Scale of Drug Production, The Un Reports, Is Also Tied to the Civil War in Myanmar, which is now in its Fourth Year.
Myanmar’s Economy has collapsed since the military coup in 2021, and with options narrowing, People Have Traditionally Turned to Poppy Cultivation As a Means to Survive.
The un notes that opium poppy cultivation in southeast Asia have long been linked to poverty, Lack of Government Services, Economic Challenges and Insecurity.
“Households and Villages in Myanmar that engage in poppy cultivation and the Broader Opium Economy do So to Supplement Inome or Scholarsh The Lack Other Legitimate Opportunities,” The Una Said.
But Now Parts of Pekon, Long A Military Stronghold and a Key Drug Trafficking Corridor, Are Under The Control of the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (Kndf) and other Karenni Armed Groups Fighting the Ruling Military.
They say they want to change Things.
“We oppose The Production, Trafficking, and Use of Narcotics,” Said Maui, to Deputy Commander of the Kndf.
“When We Capture Burmese Soldiers, They’re Full of Meth,” Maui Said.
“We Ask Where It Comes From and They Tell Us, Without Hesitation, It’s distributed by The Superior To Push Them to the Front Lines,” He Said.
“Eleven The War is Over, We’ll Go After The Opium Too. We want it to be used only for medical Purpose,” I have add.
As part of those antidrug efforts, Karenni Police forces Stop and Search Motorcycles and Vehicles on Roads in the Areas of Shan State They Now Control.
“We are stopping cars and motorbikes we don’t pick to Search for Drugs,” Said Karenni Police Commander Win Ning Thun, Standing at A Checkpoint Just Outside to Village in Pekon District.
“We’re Looking for Yaba Pills,” Said Win None Thun, using the local name for Methaphetamine Pills.
“Until Recently, This Area was under military and pro-junction Militia Control,” win none Thun Said.
“Meth Was Moving Freely under their supervision. They Took a Percentage of the Profits from Every Shipment Passing Through,” He Said.
‘I was supPared to make a Lot of Money’
Deep in the Forets Surrounding Pekon, A Small Prison Holds Rows of Detainees arrested by Karenni Police.
“Everyone here has been arrested for drag trafficking.
“BeSe the Pills We Confiscated Just This Past Month,” He Said, Holding Up A Plastic Bag Stuped with Small Red Yaba Pills That Are Easy To Conceal, Sold Cheoply, But represent Trade That is Worth Millions of Dollars.
Among The Detainees in the prison was Anton Lee, Who Wore Glasses and A Calm, some Suming Look.
“They Stopped me at A CheckPoint With 10,000 Pills,” Lee Said.
“I was taking them to the thai border.
Now, I have faces long time in prison.
Not Too Far from The Prison, The Civil War Grinds On in Myanmar as The Military Regime Buys More Advanced Weaponry, and The Rebel Forces Try To Hold Out and ExtendE Their Advances.
The Military Air Raids, Drone Strikes and Artillery Fire Hammer Schools, Hospes and Religious Site, Turning Entire Villages Into Targets.
Yet, Even Under Fire, Here in Southern Shan State, Submit To Be Trying To Stound The Flow of Drugs.
With Limited Resources, They Tell of Doing What They Can In Another Battle Inside to a lot of Larger War.
