[osint] REPORT: Heroin Production and Trafficking in Indo-Burma Border
18/01/2005 Heroin Production and Trafficking in Indo-Burma Border T. Siamchinthang Today, the Indo-Burma border is the worlds biggest heroin trafficking area and heroin is frequently described as Burmas most valuable export. Since Burmas military regime, then called the State Law and Order Restoration (SLORC), seized power in Burma in 1988, opium production, from which heroin is refined, has risen to over 2,030 metric tons annually, amounting to 60 per cent of world supply. Heroin from Burma has usually supplied the North America and Australia markets while previously most of the heroin sourced in European originated from the Golden Crescent, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkey. Over the past two years, a growing portion of the European heroin market has been Burmese heroin trafficked out of north-west Burma. Heroin production in northwest Burma is burgeoning and new refineries are appearing. The improvement in drug enforcement in neighbouring Thailand and China since the early 1990s has served to open up new trade routes for both raw opium and heroin from Shan State to the plains around Mandalay, through Chin State and Sagaing Division to north-east India. According to Images Asias November 2004 report, Most of Burmas opium for conversion into heroin is grown in Shan State, in the infamous Golden Triangle region. Despite the military juntas claims that they are actively combating drug production and distribution, many areas of Shan State saw massive increases in poppy cultivation after they came under the control of military regime. The Burmese military has been laying landmines in the border areas where India, Bangladesh and Burma meet since mid-1997 in an attempt to prevent militant insurgency. High-level anti-insurgency authorities from Burma and north-east India have increasingly profited from the narcotics trade, taking bribes not to send Burmese military troops into areas where refineries are located. Large amounts of narcotics are carried through official border crossings in north-east India, including at the Moreh-Tamu border point, as well as across paths over the mountains that form much of the border terrain. In north-western Burma, there are three new drug-related trends, all of which involve the participation of Burmese higher authorities. (i) Opium production is increasing in the Chin and Naga hills. (ii) Heroin refineries have been established in the north-western Burma (iii) Heroin trafficking from the Shan State through north-west Burma into north-east India is increasing dramatically. The plain areas in north-west Burma are primarily inhabited by ethnic Burmans, while the hills are settled by Nagas, Chins (who refer to themselves as Zomi) and the Kukis. Like the Zomis in Chin State, the Kukis and Nagas have formed armed resistance organizations which are fighting against the Burmese military regime for various degrees of political autonomy. There are also Nagas, Zomis and Kukis in the Indo-Burma border areas fighting for autonomous regions in India. Some insurgents are fighting for independence in territory that includes parts of Burma, India and Bangladesh. The largest Naga resistance organisation, the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) split into two factions in 1988. The faction led by Isaac-Muivah (NSCN-IM) has been especially active in Indo-Burma borderlands while the faction led by Khaplang, a Burmese Naga (NSCN-K), has in the past been more focused on fighting the Burma Army. The Zomi Re-Unification Organisation (ZRO) and its armed wing, the Zomi Revolutionary Army (ZRA), and the Kuki National Army (KNA) are also active in Chin State and north-east India. Cultivation of Opium Poppies Previously, numbers of Zomi villagers based in the Tedim area of Chin State and in Sagaing Division produced relatively significant amounts of opium. As some farmers under pressure from military extortion, forced labour and relocations find it harder and harder to survive growing ordinary crops the temptation to grow opium has increased. In northern Chin State along the Indo-Burma border, most of opium poppy fields are found around the Tedim township but there are a few optimum cultivation areas in Tonzang and Than Tlang townships. In the south, in areas such as Paletwa township, the climate is not conducive to growing opium. Opium cultivation also takes place in the Naga hills of Sagaing Division. Production of Heroin In the past, mostly opium was trafficked into north-east India. However, since heroin factories have begun to appear in Chin State and Sagaing Division in the early 1990s, locally produced opium as well as opium from Shan State are now refined in the area. According to the Geopolitical Drug Dispatch, Heroin Laboratories and drug export routes have now shifted to the south west (from Kachin State and the Chinese border). Major drug production units are now operation along the Chindwin river near the North-East India Border, under direct protection by the Burmes
[osint] REPORT: Heroin Production and Trafficking in Indo-Burma Border
18/01/2005 Heroin Production and Trafficking in Indo-Burma Border T. Siamchinthang Today, the Indo-Burma border is the worlds biggest heroin trafficking area and heroin is frequently described as Burmas most valuable export. Since Burmas military regime, then called the State Law and Order Restoration (SLORC), seized power in Burma in 1988, opium production, from which heroin is refined, has risen to over 2,030 metric tons annually, amounting to 60 per cent of world supply. Heroin from Burma has usually supplied the North America and Australia markets while previously most of the heroin sourced in European originated from the Golden Crescent, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkey. Over the past two years, a growing portion of the European heroin market has been Burmese heroin trafficked out of north-west Burma. Heroin production in northwest Burma is burgeoning and new refineries are appearing. The improvement in drug enforcement in neighbouring Thailand and China since the early 1990s has served to open up new trade routes for both raw opium and heroin from Shan State to the plains around Mandalay, through Chin State and Sagaing Division to north-east India. According to Images Asias November 2004 report, Most of Burmas opium for conversion into heroin is grown in Shan State, in the infamous Golden Triangle region. Despite the military juntas claims that they are actively combating drug production and distribution, many areas of Shan State saw massive increases in poppy cultivation after they came under the control of military regime. The Burmese military has been laying landmines in the border areas where India, Bangladesh and Burma meet since mid-1997 in an attempt to prevent militant insurgency. High-level anti-insurgency authorities from Burma and north-east India have increasingly profited from the narcotics trade, taking bribes not to send Burmese military troops into areas where refineries are located. Large amounts of narcotics are carried through official border crossings in north-east India, including at the Moreh-Tamu border point, as well as across paths over the mountains that form much of the border terrain. In north-western Burma, there are three new drug-related trends, all of which involve the participation of Burmese higher authorities. (i) Opium production is increasing in the Chin and Naga hills. (ii) Heroin refineries have been established in the north-western Burma (iii) Heroin trafficking from the Shan State through north-west Burma into north-east India is increasing dramatically. The plain areas in north-west Burma are primarily inhabited by ethnic Burmans, while the hills are settled by Nagas, Chins (who refer to themselves as Zomi) and the Kukis. Like the Zomis in Chin State, the Kukis and Nagas have formed armed resistance organizations which are fighting against the Burmese military regime for various degrees of political autonomy. There are also Nagas, Zomis and Kukis in the Indo-Burma border areas fighting for autonomous regions in India. Some insurgents are fighting for independence in territory that includes parts of Burma, India and Bangladesh. The largest Naga resistance organisation, the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) split into two factions in 1988. The faction led by Isaac-Muivah (NSCN-IM) has been especially active in Indo-Burma borderlands while the faction led by Khaplang, a Burmese Naga (NSCN-K), has in the past been more focused on fighting the Burma Army. The Zomi Re-Unification Organisation (ZRO) and its armed wing, the Zomi Revolutionary Army (ZRA), and the Kuki National Army (KNA) are also active in Chin State and north-east India. Cultivation of Opium Poppies Previously, numbers of Zomi villagers based in the Tedim area of Chin State and in Sagaing Division produced relatively significant amounts of opium. As some farmers under pressure from military extortion, forced labour and relocations find it harder and harder to survive growing ordinary crops the temptation to grow opium has increased. In northern Chin State along the Indo-Burma border, most of opium poppy fields are found around the Tedim township but there are a few optimum cultivation areas in Tonzang and Than Tlang townships. In the south, in areas such as Paletwa township, the climate is not conducive to growing opium. Opium cultivation also takes place in the Naga hills of Sagaing Division. Production of Heroin In the past, mostly opium was trafficked into north-east India. However, since heroin factories have begun to appear in Chin State and Sagaing Division in the early 1990s, locally produced opium as well as opium from Shan State are now refined in the area. According to the Geopolitical Drug Dispatch, Heroin Laboratories and drug export routes have now shifted to the south west (from Kachin State and the Chinese border). Major drug production units are now operation along the Chindwin river near the North-East India Border, under direct protection by the Burmese
