The illegal trade in methamphetamines grew robustly in Southeast and East Asia last year despite cross-border and movement restrictions imposed because of the coronavirus outbreak, the United Nations counter-narcotics agency said in a new report released Thursday. <\/p>\n
Seizures of meth set a record in 2020, increasing by nearly 20 percent from the previous year, the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reported. Nearly three-quarters of the drugs seized were confiscated in the Lower Mekong countries \u2013 Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam \u2013 according to the agency.<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite COVID-19 and its associated restrictions on trade and people\u2019s movements, there has been an overall sustained expansion of the methamphetamine market in East and Southeast Asia,\u201d the 121-page report by UNODC said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is in part due to both the mobility of synthetic drug production as well as the continuous supply of precursors and chemicals to manufacturing sites of methamphetamine in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n
Precursors are chemicals used in the illegal manufacture of narcotic drugs, and which also have legitimate commercial uses. <\/p>\n
The growth in the meth trade is being driven partly by an \u201cevolution in the range of chemicals\u201d that criminal rings use to make the drug, according to the report, which examines the latest developments and challenges in the regional synthetic drug market.<\/p>\n
Demand for methamphetamine in Southeast Asia appears to have grown in parallel with increases in its availability, said the report.<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite record quantities seized in 2020, a large number of countries in the region have reported further decreases in prices of methamphetamine, which indicates that the market continues to be driven by supply,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n
It pointed to a drop in wholesale and street-level prices for meth in Thailand, Malaysia and Cambodia.<\/p>\n
In spite of pandemic-related measures restricting the mobility of trade and transportation, countries across the region confiscated at least 169 tons of methamphetamine in 2020 \u2013 a 19 percent increase from the 142 tons seized in 2019, UNODC reported. <\/p>\n
Drug trafficking syndicates are also diversifying supply channels and using new routes, the report said.<\/p>\n
Although Myanmar\u2019s Shan state remains the region\u2019s main source of production for meth, \u201cthere are growing signs that Cambodia is being increasingly targeted for large-scale illicit methamphetamine manufacture,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Laos, which borders Myanmar, \u201chas been increasingly targeted for transit and trafficking of methamphetamine and its related chemicals,\u201d the report noted, citing sharp increases in seizures of meth along the Lao-Thai border.<\/p>\n
\u201cOrganized crime groups have been able to continue the expansion of the regional synthetic drug trade \u2013 in particular in the upper Mekong and Shan state of Myanmar \u2013 by maintaining a steady supply of chemicals into production areas despite border restrictions that have impacted legitimate cross-border trade,\u201d Jeremy Douglas, UNODC\u2019s Bangkok-based representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said in a statement accompanying the report\u2019s release.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile the pandemic has caused the global economy to slow down, criminal syndicates that dominate the region have quickly adapted and capitalized. They have continued to aggressively push supply in a conscious effort to build the market and demand.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to a senior Thai counter-narcotics police official who attended the report\u2019s launch in Bangkok, drug traffickers are increasingly resorting to smuggling drugs via sea routes.<\/p>\n
\u201cMethamphetamines and crystal meth are still widely smuggled across the region via land, airports and sea routes, and recently we found the rise of maritime trafficking, especially via Thailand, to third countries,\u201d Police Lt. Col. Paisit Sangkahapong, deputy secretary-general of the Office of the Narcotics Control Board, told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.<\/p>\n
\u201cApart from that, drug syndicates, drug dealers, exploited new techniques by using online methods to trade their drugs or using various social media platforms to conduct their activities. This is something we are monitoring.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Radio Free Asia –Copyright \u00a9 1998-2016, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036Radio Free Europe–Copyright (c) 2015. RFE\/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe\/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036. <\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The illegal trade in methamphetamines grew robustly in Southeast and East Asia last year despite cross-border and movement restrictions imposed because of the coronavirus outbreak, the United Nations counter-narcotics agency said in a new report releas…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n