Second

Drug Law Enforcement Agencies of Asia and the Pacific Region (HONLEA), continued

Countries Association and heads of delegations of Australia, Azerbaijan,

People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Macao

Special Administrative Region, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea,

Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, the

Secretary of the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control of Myanmar delegation

Secretary of the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control of Myanmar Director

meeting on Myanmar’s national anti-narcotic drug activities with audio visual

Enforcement Agencies, Asia and the Pacific Region held group-wise discussions on

illicit trafficking of heroin, consumption rate, effectiveness of anti-drug

strategic electronic systems, control of stimulant pills and trafficking of

Hkam Awng,

In this Working Group

discussion, I would like to introduce the subject by making m

decrease and the reasons behind the decrease and factors contributing to

Mr. Ian Munro and Mr.Yngve Danling and ICPO Liaison Officer for Southeast Asia,

Mr. Romeo Sanga briefed the meeting on regional and world trends on drug

trafficking so I shall not be delving much time on international nor regional

trends but try to depict the trafficking trends in the context of Myanmar and

Myanmar, you will notice that Myanmar shares borders with 5 neighbouring

countries and in that, also very long borders with China, Thailand and India.

These border regions are also very rugged, mountainous and remote. I wish to

emphasize this because this is where the opium poppy cultivation is going on.

Looking at this slide, you can see the actual cultivation or high-density area

of poppy, which are all in the northeastern part of the Shan State. If we

project the area of cultivation comparing Myanmar, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam

based on figures from UNDCP, we will see a chart like this that shows a

declining trend in 1998 and 1999 while in 2000, there seems to be a slight

increase. On the next slide, production of opium is also on the decreasing

trend. Figures established by the US, ODCCP and our own figures project a

slightly different picture on the chart, both on cultivation and production.

This disparity stems from the methodology of surveys, where the US figures are

based on satellite photos and potential yield, while ours are based on actual

ground surveys. We also take into account of the eradication figures, which we

However, all the sources concur

nearly every year 1993.

heroin trafficking within territories and changes in the response to measures

cultivation, over 300,000 hill tribe people on the border areas of China and

Thailand are engaged in opium poppy cultivation since a century ago under the

British colonialism and it has become a livelihood for them. Independence from

the British in 1948 did not decrease the problem because of insurgency all over

the country particularly in the border regions and later insurgent groups

themselves indulged in drug production in the later stages. The invasion and

entrenchment of Kuomintang’s (KMT) driven out of China into our eastern borders

in the 1950s aggravated the drug problem. These areas under the dominance of

insurgency were undeveloped and left behind the mainstream of the country due to

group split with the BCP and made peace with the government. Subsequently

following that major turning point in the history of insurgency in Myanmar, 17

major armed insurgent groups made peace agreements with the central government

in the early 1990s. The slide shows the names of insurgent groups and their area

of dominance or later becoming special regions. The government enjoyed for the

first time access to these areas once denied and has the opportunity to

undertake development programmes to upgrade the infrastructure and uplift the

government stressed law enforcement activities on drug eradication programmes

but later on saw that it needs to be coupled with crop substitution and

alternative development programmes in the long run and also sustainability from

going back to poppy cultivation. Thus, the government laid down a Strategy

designating drugs eradication as a national duty to involve participation of the

whole populace and to develop and enhance the standard of living of the national

races of the border areas so that they will be weaned gradually from poppy

Border Areas and National Races Development Affairs in 1992 was a major

undertaking of the government to implement the abovementioned Strategy. Up to

present, the Ministry has invested over 20 billion kyats from the State budget

in development programmes in the border areas encompassing 6 million

history of drugs and its trends is the unconditional surrender of Khun Sa and

his Mong Tai Army (MTA) in January 1996. You will see from the slide that the

strength, arms and ammunition surrendered was a substantial force that was

and MTA made a deep impact in the production and trafficking routes of drugs on

the Myanmar-Thai border and also changed the trends and patterns of drug

trafficking. On the other hand, national groups that entered peace arrangement

with the government drew up their own development programmes of their respective

regions to establish drug free zones. The first to establish and still

sustaining is the Eastern Shan State Special Region 4 of Mong Lar since 1997

April. Kokang Region is making all out efforts to follow suit in year 2000 with

the Wa Region promising to be free of drugs in year 2005. It cannot be denied

nor ignored on the fact that the efforts to get rid of opium poppy cultivation

and production by the ethnic races play a key role in the changing trends of

the major armed insurgent groups made peace with the government. However, there

had been splinter groups and remnants of SURA led by Ywet Sit, MTA group led by

Kyauk Sit Su Hlaing and WNA led by Mahar San who are still deeply involved in

drug production and trafficking on the Myanmar- Thai border near the golden

triangle area. This slide shows the mobile camps and clandestine refineries of

decrease in the report of seizures and now let us look into the reasons behind

this or the factors contributing to decrease. These slides show the annual

seizures of opium, heroin and amphetamine type stimulants. From the annual

figures, it is quite obvious that seizures of opium and heroin have sharply

decrease since the peak year of 1997 while ATS figures show a significant

increase since the first seizure in 1996. I am not going into numbers as data on

in the sub region, I would like to show you seizure charts based on UNDCP

figures, which I got from Mr. Munro yesterday. ( Slides ) Here also, we can see

the general trend of decreasing heroin seizures in Thailand, China and Laos

while a slight increase is seen in Hong Kong. ATS seizures on the other hand,

are rising in all countries. As an indicator, let us look at this chart, which

shows the price of heroin in Myanmar from 1996 to 2000. You will notice the

average price of heroin, which were stable around 600,000 kyats per kilo for

some years suddenly jumped to 2,000,000 kyats this year. It clearly indicates

the scarcity of heroin in the sub-region. Is it because traffickers are

stockpiling drugs to get better prices? However, if we crosscheck with Hong

Kong, from this chart it shows that the price is more or less stable for the

past 5 years. We have to assess whether Hong Kong is still the transit gateway

of reported seizures? As far as Myanmar is concerned, the trafficking routes

have changed considerably since the surrender of Khun Sa leaving a void on the

Myanmar – Thai border that no other trafficking syndicate or organization has

been able to fill in. Another factor is the increased enforcement and

interdiction on both sides of the country that the major portion of heroin

produced is now routed through Yunan Province of China. This slide shows the

route of heroin. So it is

or to the seaports for trafficking to Malaysia and Singapore by sea.

response to counter illicit traffic, this slide shows the deployment of

Anti-drug Units of the Myanmar Police Force. Up to 1988, we have only 8 Drug

Units with the support of US training and equipment but in the 1990s we have

been able to establish 13 new Drug Units with our own resources, out of which 2

Units, Tachileik and Muse on the Thai and China border were sponsored by UNDCP

Projects. The latest Units are Bamaw, Bago and Tadar Oo International Airport.

From the locations shown, it may be noticed all the Anti-drug Units are located

strategically along the main trafficking routes. All the major seizures are

like to draw your attention is on the importance of Precursor Chemicals and its

locations of clandestine refineries we have been able to search and destroy

during the past 10 years. I trust most drug enforcement officers are aware of

how many and how much chemical are needed to make a ton of heroin. This slide

shows the type of chemicals essential to make heroin and this slide shows the

amount needed. It is interesting that at the clandestine refineries that I have

shown in the previous slide, you will see this sort of chemical dumps or pileup

in Myanmar nor imported legally and diverted. It is all trafficked illicitly

from neighbouring countries particularly from China, India and Thailand. These 2

slides show how they are trafficked in the region and into Myanmar. Realising

the crucial role precursor chemicals play in the production of drugs, Myanmar

formed a Precursor Control Committee in 1998 and have 9 chemicals from the UN

Convention already under control. In addition, 12 chemicals are in the process

seizures of precursor chemicals in Myanmar and also Myanmar/ China and

Myanmar/Thai border respectively. Without precursor chemical, there is no way

drugs can be produced. So I would like to stress here the slogan ” NO

neighbouring countries are also tightening stringent controls on precursors and

interdicting substantial amount yearly and would like to commend on their

success. But still we have to do a lot more than this to curb the diversion of

chemicals into the clandestine refineries and laboratories along our common

borders. I would like to take this opportunity also to inform the meeting that

cross border meetings between counterpart enforcement agencies and field

officers have been taking place for understanding and better cooperation. The

Finally on drug abuse, the 1993

sentenced according to the law.

presentation, I would like to reiterate that the drug producing regions of

Myanmar are along the porous borders of our neighbouring countries which are

also very remote and the terrain very difficult. This makes very difficult

access for the government and its enforcement agencies to search and destroy

clandestine refineries and laboratories. On the other hand, it creates a haven

for drug traffickers as they could have easy access to neighbouring countries

where they can purchase precursors as well as paraphernalia and also financing

from international organized crime syndicates. Against this scenario, it calls

for the closer practical cooperation between law enforcement agencies to

overcome the upper hand taken by drug traffickers. And this meeting itself is a

testimony that we can work together and we should take this meeting as an

advantage as a common ground to find better ways and means to solve the drug