Myanmar Civil War has fuelled drug cross-border drug smuggling, says Thailand

Oct. 2, 2024, 1:10 p.m.

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Thailand has experienced a sharp rise in illicit drugs smuggled from neighboring Myanmar, coupled with a dramatic increase in methamphetamines and heroin seizures. This surge in drug trade is fueled by the ongoing civil war in the region, according to a senior Thai counter-narcotics official.

Apikit Ch.Rojprasert, the deputy secretary-general of the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB), stated that the northern region remains the primary trafficking route into Thailand, with dealers utilizing mountain passes or the Mekong river to transport methamphetamine tablets and crystal meth, also known as ice.

Advertisement Thai authorities say organised crime networks have allied with militias and rebel groups to set up “super labs” in Myanmar’s Shan and Kachin States.

A junta spokesperson declined to comment for this story but Myanmar’s ruling junta has previously said it is committed to working with neighbouring countries to tackle narcotics.

“Because of the armed conflict, the drug trade is one of the factors used to fund weapon purchases or drive the fighting forces,” Apikit told Reuters in an interview.

“We have to be vigilant about crimes that are linked to drug trafficking and work with neighbouring countries.”

Myanmar is embroiled in a civil war, with the military engaged in multiple conflicts and losing territory to an armed resistance movement loosely allied with several ethnic minority rebel groups. The military seized control of the Myanmar government in 2021.

Seizure of meth tablets in the first eight and a half months of this year in Thailand’s northern provinces of Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Mae Hong Son increased by 172 per cent from the amount seized in all of 2023 to 346 million pills, ONCB data showed.

Seizures of crystal meth in those provinces rose by 39% over the same period, reaching a total of 6.48 tons, according to the data.

Heroin seizures have also surged this year, with authorities confiscating 327 kg (721 lb), nearly seven times the amount seized in 2023.

Street price slump

The political turmoil in Myanmar has resulted in a significant increase and expansion of synthetic drug production and trafficking, as well as a resurgence of opium cultivation, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

Advertisement While authorities have seized more meth pills, prices continue to drop in Thailand, indicating that a significantly larger amount of the drug is bypassing enforcement efforts, according to Apikit.

The average price of a meth tablet in Thailand was approximately 25-30 baht ($0.78-$0.93), he said, compared to 80 baht ($2.49) in 2017 and 200 baht ($6.21) in 2013.

General Narit Thanwornwong, commander of Thailand’s drug suppression unit in the northern border told Reuters his task force believed more than 50 million meth pills were waiting to be trafficked into Thailand.

He stated that only some armed groups engaged in the fight against the Myanmar junta were involved in drug trafficking, while other organizations not involved in the conflict participated in production and trade.

Advertisement Drug seizures in the three northern Thai provinces have all skyrocketed since the 2021 coup in Myanmar, with crystal methamphetamine increasing by 284 percent, amphetamine tablets by 201 percent and heroin by 77 percent, ONCB data showed.

($1 = 32.1900 baht)