Drugs, conflict, and power in South Asia

Myanmar becomes Opium Capital of the world

Myanmar’s continuous political instability has enabled the growth and expansion of massive synthetic drug production complexes. Myanmar has quickly emerged as the largest cultivator of opium and producer of heroin globally. Its strategic location within the Golden Triangle, with its overland routes and porous borders, enables the uninterrupted flow of a variety of synthetic drugs, making it a leading player in the regional drug trade network. Today, Myanmar has become the opium capital of the world. The political, social, and economic turmoil resulting from the 2021 Myanmar coup has boosted poppy farming to unprecedented heights. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s 2023 Southeast Asia Opium Survey, the land dedicated to opium farming was projected to be 47,100 hectares, an increase from 40,100 in 2022. Myanmar now has the largest volume of opium suppliers worldwide. The average estimated opium yield grew to 22.9 kilograms per hectare.

Heroin production and trafficking are the most lucrative aspect of the opium economy. An estimated 154 tonnes of heroin was exported from Myanmar in 2023, valued at up to US$2.2 billion. Poppy farming has been flourishing in Shan state, part of the Golden Triangle which is the epicenter for drug production and smuggling. Shan is poor and remote but has fertile soil with the right attitude to cultivate opium. Cultivation has risen by 20 percent in the Chin and Kachin states, which border India. From opiates to amphetamines, the connection between drugs, conflict, and power is a key regional dynamic with implications for its neighbours and beyond.

The lucrative benefits of booming opium cultivation in Myanmar have been exploited by transnational organized crime syndicates and armed groups to produce heroin and amphetamines at a cheaper price, which has led to Southeast Asia having one of the highest rates of drug users worldwide. The “Golden Triangle,” a region spanning the jungle frontiers of Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos, has historically been active in drug production and smuggling. Heroin is far from the only drug produced in Myanmar, Methamphetamine is the preferred narcotic in Asia, hence labs in Shan State are on an overdrive, producing it.

India’s northeast has been extensively identified as the main corridor for the passage of Myanmar-origin drugs. India shares a 1,643-km porous border with Myanmar, impacting the States of Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Arunachal Pradesh, which is exploited by drug traffickers, and insurgent groups. Across the border lies the most sensitive areas of Myanmar – the Sagaing Region, Chin State, Kachin State, and Shan State. Large parts of Myanmar are controlled by Ethnic Armed Organisations (EAOs) and resistance groups such as the People’s Defence Forces (PDFs). The Brotherhood Alliance — comprising the Arakan Army, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, is another formidable insurgent group.

Large parts of the Rakhine province are in the hands of the Arakan Army. This armed group has seized towns on the borders with Bangladesh, such as Buthidaung, and towns on the Bay of Bengal coast such as Kyauk Phyu, Sittwe, and Ngapali. Sittwe town is critical for the success of India’s Kaladan project, which seeks to connect Kolkata with Mizoram via Myanmar. With multiple armed groups controlling and asserting power in different regions, many refer to Myanmar as a space with fragmented sovereignty.

China has been engaging with multiple actors, very tactfully. Given its massive investments and economic interests in the region, China has extended support to the Myanmar military on various international platforms. Simultaneously, it has also maintained a tacit understanding with most armed groups, including the Brotherhood Alliance and the United Wa State Army (UWSA).

In Manipur, the total number of troops deployed is around 67,000 in addition to the 30,000-strong police force. Manipur is a hilly, forested region of 3.2 million people bordered by Myanmar. The conflict there was sparked by a court order that proposed giving the Meiteis, who live in the Imphal Valley region of the state, the same government benefits as those given to Christian-converted Kukis, who live in the hills. Meitei groups have been supporting and fighting on the side of the ruling junta in Myanmar’s civil war and an estimated 2,000 of their cadres are in Myanmar’s Sagaing region, just across the border from Manipur. They have fought anti-junta rebels like the People’s Defence Force – Kalay (PDF-K) and the Kuki National Army Burma in Sagaing, Kachin, and Chin areas of northern Myanmar. The Kukis, enjoy support from the Kachin rebels and have bought weapons from Myanmar’s semi-autonomous Wa state. Rival fighters are now equipped with rocket launchers, machine guns, snipe,r and assault rifles, including foreign-made M16s, M4A1s, and AK-47s. Funding for the arms comes from illegal poppy plantations, which the Manipur state government has been attempting to eradicate.

A newly-surfaced video circulating in various social media has highlighted a rabid missionary, US preacher Daniel Stephen Courney, an Army veteran, instigating violence in Manipur under the guise of religious activities. The video shows Daniel Courney distributing drones and bulletproof vests to insurgents, raising suspicions of a covert geopolitical agenda. Observers have linked Courney’s actions to a broader clandestine strategy, by external intelligence agencies, who are keen on exploiting religious divisions in the region to incite conflict and promote an independent Christian country.

The situation in Manipur echoes warnings from Bangladesh’s Sheikh Hasina about efforts to establish a “separate Christian state” encompassing parts of Myanmar, Bangladesh, and north-eastern India. This alleged plot includes tacitly supporting Hindu persecution in Bangladesh and encouraging communal tensions in Manipur.

Bangladesh has a drug epidemic, at the heart of which is a wildly popular meth pill smuggled into the country from neighbouring Myanmar, known as Yaba, or “crazy medicine” in Thai. This highly addictive stimulant is a mix of methamphetamine and caffeine that usually comes in the form of colourful, candy-like tablets. Since the arrival of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees, authorities in Bangladesh have seized millions of Yaba pills from the Rohingya living in makeshift camps in Cox’s Bazar, and other areas. In Myanmar, the Rohingya are not considered one of the country’s 135 official ethnic groups. Yaba, the strong stimulant has grown in popularity across the region, including in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Myanmar, where Bangladeshi authorities believe there are more than 50 drug factories, dedicated to manufacturing Yaba. Estimates are that Bangladesh has upwards of 6 million Yaba users, comprising men and women from all walks of life.

Of all the countries in South Asia, Bhutan is primarily considered a transit country in the regional cannabis trade. Nevertheless, wild cannabis grows freely in Bhutan and is consumed and traded within the country along with processed cannabis (hashish). These products are likely not exported abroad. Although the domestic market is relatively small, data shows a very high rate of adolescent cannabis users. Large consignments of codeine-based cough syrups transiting through the Bhutan–India border have been seized across South-eastern Asia, but Bhutan’s synthetic drug trade remains quite limited. Reports indicate increased use and movement of synthetic drugs in urban areas of Bhutan, due to South-eastern Asia’s oversupply of high-purity and low-cost synthetic drugs.

The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime identifies Nepal as a transit hub for cocaine trafficking into other countries, particularly India. “The number of cocaine drug traffickers in Nepal is growing. Domestic use of cocaine remains low and is mainly limited to the tourist industry and elite social circles due to its high price. Foreign nationals from Africa, Eastern Europe, and South America are the primary smugglers caught trafficking cocaine through the country. The wider global decriminalization, legalization, and commercialization of cannabis may have contributed to an increase in the production and use of cannabis in Nepal. Cannabis resin is trafficked from Nepal to India and Europe. Regarding synthetic drugs, Nepal is a trans-shipment country for opiates and methamphetamines produced in South and South East Asia”.

Sri Lanka’s latest anti-drugs campaign, codenamed ‘Yukthiya’, or justice, commenced in December 2023. This has led to narcotics seizures and mass arrests of drug consumers, local dealers, distributors, and individuals with a history of drug-related arrests. The anti-drug bust by the 2024 Ranil Wickremesinghe-led government is the latest attempt to address the country’s systemic drug problem. His predecessors, Mahinda Rajapaksa and Maithripala Sirisena, initiated similar anti-narcotics and crime campaigns, but these only resulted in short-term drops in crime rates. For years, Sri Lanka has been a transit hub for drug trafficking due to its location near major drug trafficking routes along the Indian Ocean. Pakistan, Myanmar, and Afghanistan appear to be the main sources of drugs in Sri Lanka — mainly heroin and synthetic drugs such as methamphetamine. Cannabis trafficking is also rampant in the international waters of Sri Lanka- Tamil Nadu in India.

In this context, in August 2024, the Global Maritime Crime Programme of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC GMCP), in partnership with the Global Programme on Criminal Network Disruption (GPCD) conducted a Regional Roundtable and Systems Analysis Exercise on Mapping Drug Trafficking Networks in the Eastern Indian Ocean Region, at Colombo, with the aim to facilitate information sharing amongst regional practitioners and experts in maritime security, based on the assessment findings. Maritime law enforcement agencies and legal and administrative entities from India, Maldives, and Sri Lanka took part in this event. The program was funded by the United States of America and contributes to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 16 and 17.

Behind the façade of an idyllic island paradise, Maldivians navigate a drug epidemic of huge proportions. The Maldives remains a strategic transit country for heroin trafficking, with foreign criminal networks based in Pakistan controlling a large portion of the trade. The geographic location of Maldives made it the ideal drop-off point for all kinds of drugs—among them cheap, low-grade heroin called “brown sugar.” According to the Global Organized Crime Index, heroin is sourced from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran and then transported to the Maldives and other nearby islands using the sea route. The Maldives also has its own considerable local supply and consumption market for heroin. The cocaine trade is also present in the Maldives, primarily as a transit country to Thailand and the Philippines. The trade is presumably managed by international criminal groups in collaboration with local gangs.

Nations around the Indian Ocean have formed strategic collaborations to counter illicit drug trafficking in the ocean through various agreements and treaties. Regional organizations such as the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), is committed to resolving non-traditional security challenges such as drug trafficking through strategic collaborations and enforcing protocols. The UNODC, organizes the annual Southern Route Partnership Meeting, to come up with strategies, plans, and protocols to fight against drug trafficking in the Indian Ocean region. Established under the Indian Ocean Forum on Maritime Crime (IOFMC), the Southern Route Partnership provides a platform that encourages global cooperation and coordination among national drug enforcement agencies, international organizations, and other parties in the Indian Ocean region.

As a further countermeasure against illicit drug trafficking, there is the Combined Task Force (CTF) 150 which is one of five task forces operated by Combined Maritime Forces (CMF), of many nations. CTF 150’s mission is to deter and disrupt the ability of non-state actors to move weapons, drugs, and other illicit substances in the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea, and the Gulf of Oman.

The annual report of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) 2023 shows that 39% of the world’s opiate users reside in South Asia. The report highlights India’s prominence as the primary market for opiates, noting an increased number of incidences of trafficking and illicit opium cultivation in the country’s northeast. Furthermore, the rise of cryptocurrency provides a virtually untraceable way of collecting and sharing the proceeds of drug trafficking. A large number of multilateral groups target drug trafficking, like SAARC, BRICS, the Colombo Drug Advisory Program, BIMSTEC, and agencies such as ASEAN’s ASOD, UNODC, and the International Narcotics Control Board.

The war against drugs seems interminable.

Note:
1. Text in Blue points to additional data on the topic.
2. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.

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