Drug Production and
Trafficking by Armed
Insurgents
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Shan insurgents purchased arms form the KMT and engaged in opium trade
in this way
ln -1959-60 the Shan insurgents
arose and formed an unholy alliance with the KMT for the purpose of raising
funds for their existence through drug trafficking. Some of the Self-Defense
Forces formed to combat them also succumbed to the lure of drug profits
and began to traffic in drugs. In 1973 when the Government decided to end
these forces some of them refused to turn in their arms and instead became
drug traffickers.
The Burma Communist Party (BCP)
moved into the Kokang and Wa areas in 1968, and to gain funds and allies the
began to traffic drugs and even to later produce heroin directly. Thus the
volume of drugs production in that area increased eve further.