2 million methamphetamine pills seized in Myanmar

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/152607/2-million-methamphetamine-pills-seized-in-Myanmar



03/13/2009 | 03:38 PM

Email this | Email the Editor | Print | ShareThisYANGON, Myanmar — An anti-drug squad in Myanmar has seized 2 million methamphetamine tablets hidden in the fuel tank of a truck headed to the Thai border, state-owned media said Friday.

The report follows an announcement Thursday that Myanmar seized more than 1.3 million methamphetamine tablets in February, a 25-fold increase over January's total.

The New Light of Myanmar newspaper said the 10-wheel truck was traveling from Kengtung in eastern Myanmar to the border town of Tachileik when it was stopped and searched. The truck owner was arrested as part of an ongoing sweep against traffickers.

The most recent U.S. State Department report on the international illicit drug trade said Myanmar "is a significant player in the manufacture and regional trafficking of amphetamine-type stimulants."

Large quantities of the drugs end up in Thailand, where their use has been rampant in recent years.

A separate report in the newspaper said the Myanmar government has destroyed 7,893 acres (3,194 hectares) of opium poppy fields in the Shan and Kachin states during this year's growing season.

Myanmar, also known as Burma, is the world's second largest producer of heroin after Afghanistan, according to U.S. and U.N. experts, although the Central Asian country leads by a long shot, accounting for 90 percent of the world's production of the narcotic.

Heroin is produced from the opium poppies. - AP