Drug mafia again flourishing in South-East Asia: UN report- Thailand-Laos-Myanmar border hub of drugs

The black trade in synthetic drugs has resurfaced in Asia. Enforcement agencies in many countries have cracked down on the drug mafia. For this reason, the organized drug mafia has adopted new routes of smuggling to avoid action. This information has come out from the study report released on Friday by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
The head of the report, Jeremy Douglas, said that in the changed situation after Corona, smugglers have changed their route. For decades most of the regional meth production has taken place in the forests of the Golden Triangle. This is the area where the borders of Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar meet. The crime groups here are increasingly turning to the western sea routes.
Instead of central Myanmar, they are now moving supplies toward the Andaman Sea. Consignments of meth and other synthetic drugs from Myanmar were earlier routed through Japan, New Zealand, and Australia. Now a new route has been found for this.
Large quantities of meth are being transported from Myanmar in South Asia to Bangladesh and Northeast India. Myanmar's Shan Province remains the center of synthetic drug production. Also, there is a large area of opium production. In Cambodia, opium growers and organized mafia get protection. Cambodia is still taking drugs. There, along with production, and storage, new drugs are being developed in the laboratories.
Inshik Sim, UNODC's regional coordinator on synthetic drugs, said: "The ketamine situation in the region has in many respects reached the level of the methamphetamine market boom in the mid-2010s. Reports suggest that there has been a surge in East and Southeast Asia over the past year." Meth seizures have also exceeded pre-pandemic levels.
Customs officials in Japan found a boom in the smuggling of methamphetamine through air travelers.
1.1 kg of cocaine caught in India in 2019, then 310 kg in 2022:
- Drug smuggling is increasing rapidly in India. This disclosure comes from the seizure of Narcotics Control details. Cocaine seizures increased to 310 kg in 2021-22, which was only 1.1 kg in 2019-20. That is 36 times.
- DRI recovered 884.69 kg of methamphetamine in 2021-22. Which was 64.39 kg in 2020-21. Means a 14 times increase.
- 3,410 kg of heroin was seized in 2021-22. This is 17 times as compared to the previous financial year.