Myanmar destroys $600 million worth of seized drugs

Thick black smoke rose over the outskirts of Myanmar's largest city on June 26 as officials destroyed more than 50 tons of seized narcotics, including heroin, opium, ketamine, methamphetamine, marijuana and crystal meth.

Across the country, authorities incinerated confiscated drugs with an estimated street value of roughly $600 million, Caliber.Az reports, citing the AP.

In Yangon alone, officials burned 31 different categories of illegal drugs worth about $321 million, according to Aung Myat Soe.

Similar destruction ceremonies were held in Mandalay and Taunggyi, the capital of eastern Myanmar's Shan State, both located closer to the country's main drug-producing regions. The events marked the United Nations' International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

Myanmar, also known as Burma, has long been associated with large-scale drug production, a problem fueled by decades of armed conflict, political instability and economic uncertainty.

Despite repeated anti-drug operations, the country remains one of the leading suppliers of illicit narcotics to East and Southeast Asia and has consistently ranked among the world's largest producers of heroin and methamphetamine.

Experts say drug production has expanded since the military seized power in 2021, triggering widespread political violence and a civil war involving the military government, pro-democracy forces and ethnic armed organisations.

In January, the military authorities announced what they described as the largest drug seizure in the country's history. The operation targeted 12 drug manufacturing sites during coordinated raids in northern Shan State, resulting in the confiscation of large quantities of illegal drugs and production equipment.

Speaking to reporters at a bus terminal on the outskirts of Yangon, where the drugs were being destroyed, Police Lt. Col. Aung Myat Soe said the estimated street value of the narcotics burned this year was more than twice the total destroyed in the previous year.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov