Myanmar civil war fuels rise in cross-border drug trafficking, Thai official says

BANGKOK – Thailand has seen a surge in illegal drug trafficking from neighboring Myanmar and a sharp rise in seizures of methamphetamines and heroin, as a civil war fuels the regional drug trade, a senior Thai official said of the fight against narcotics.

Apikit Ch. Rojprasert, deputy secretary general of the Narcotics Control Bureau (ONCB), said the northern region remains the main trafficking route into Thailand, with traffickers crossing the mountains or the Mekong River to import tablets and drugs. crystal methamphetamine. methamphetamine, also known as ice.

Thai authorities say organized crime networks have joined forces with militias and rebel groups to create “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 neighboring countries to combat narcotics.

“Due to the armed conflict, drug trafficking is one of the factors used to finance arms purchases or to direct the fighting forces,” Mr. Apikit told Reuters in an interview.

“We must be vigilant against crimes related to drug trafficking and work with neighboring countries.”

Myanmar is locked in a civil war, with the military fighting on multiple fronts and losing territory to an armed resistance movement loosely allied with several ethnic minority rebel groups. The army took power in 2021.

Seizures of methamphetamine tablets in the first eight and a half months of 2024 in Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Mae Hong Son provinces in northern Thailand increased by 172%, from the amount seized during of the year 2023 to 346 million tablets, according to ONCB data.

Seizures of crystal meth in these provinces increased by 39 percent during the same period to 6.48 tonnes (5,878 kg), according to the data.

Heroin is also making a comeback with 327 kg seized in 2024, almost seven times the quantity seized in 2023.

Political unrest in Myanmar has led to an increase and expansion in the production and trafficking of synthetic drugs as well as a resurgence of opium cultivation, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

Despite the increase in seizures, the price of methamphetamine pills continues to fall in Thailand, suggesting that far more volumes have escaped authorities than have been caught, Mr. Apikit said.

The average price of a methamphetamine pill in Thailand was around 25 to 30 baht (0.99 to 1.18 Singapore dollars), he said, compared to 80 baht in 2017 and 200 baht in 2013.

Gen. Narit Thanwornwong, commander of Thailand’s northern border drug unit, told Reuters his task force believed more than 50 million methamphetamine pills were waiting to be brought into Thailand.

He said only some armed groups fighting the Burmese junta were involved in drug trafficking, while other organizations not parties to the conflict were involved in production and trade.

Drug seizures in Thailand’s three northern provinces have all increased since the 2021 coup in Myanmar, with crystal meth up 284 percent, amphetamine tablets up 201 percent, and heroin by 77 percent, according to ONCB data. REUTERS