A village lookout trains his binoculars on a suspicious fishing boat — the first line of defense as Thailand braces for a fresh methamphetamine influx after a military coup in neighboring Myanmar.
The kingdom’s narcotics bureau has already seized more than 80 million yaba pills, a combination of methamphetamine and caffeine, in the past six months, a record haul partly blamed on a supply glut caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, but now the UN has warned of an even bigger deluge as Myanmar’s legal economy tanks, following weeks of nationwide unrest and strike action following the coup.
“If past actions are an indicator of what’s coming, then we’re likely to see another increase in synthetic drug production,” UN Office on Drugs and Crime regional representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific Jeremy Douglas said.
Photo: AFP
Organized crime groups and allied militias in Myanmar are likely working to strengthen their positions while the nation is in turmoil, Douglas said.
“The best way to make big money fast is the drug trade, and the pieces are in place to scale up,” he said.
Synthetic drug production is already the No. 1 revenue source for several insurgent groups and militias in lawless pockets of Myanmar, close to the borders of Thailand and Laos. The frontier traversing the three nations makes up the “Golden Triangle” that has for decades been the hub of Southeast Asia’s lucrative drug trade.
The supply glut has kept the street value of a yaba pill in Bangkok at a rock-bottom price — 50 baht (US$1.61).
Methamphetamine’s more potent crystallized form normally gets sent on to wealthier overseas markets such as Australia and Japan, although pandemic transport bottlenecks have disrupted that trade.
Heavier patrols along the Myanmar border have not deterred traffickers, with Thai authorities estimating that about three-quarters of illegal drugs entering the nation are now routed through Laos.
The battle against the methamphetamine trade between the two nations, divided by the Mekong River, is hampered by a lack of personnel and equipment, such as night-vision goggles, motion sensors and motorbikes.
The provincial naval unit in charge of monitoring the border has also been forced to increase land patrols because drought and Chinese-funded dams upstream have caused water levels to drop.
So the Thai authorities have started using dedicated village volunteer groups living along the river to provide around-the-clock surveillance of the border.
Their local knowledge is helping spot drug runners trying to blend in with ordinary fishers on the Mekong.
“We always spot the boats with the fake fishers,” said Rachin Sinpho, 58, who heads up a volunteer group at a village in Nong Khai Province. “They won’t come to the riverbank. If there are many fishers out ... they won’t go close to them and will stay away.”
Dragonflies buzz overhead as Rachin points out a shed on the Laos side of the Mekong that is reported to be storing 1 tonne of tablets.
He said his team is busiest in the first hours before dark and the last before dawn. Drug traffickers time their movements with changeovers in the police force’s shifts.
The volunteers do not make arrests because they are unarmed and some drug smugglers have guns, but they do tip off police to the movements of the traffickers, as was the case during the last big arrest in a neighboring village.
“The drug runners carried the packages from their boats, and hid the drugs in the grass and trees on the riverbank,” Rachin said. “They sent a car to the spot to collect the drugs. Just as the car was leaving, the police came and arrested them, and found 5 million yaba tablets.”
Duangphaisri Ninket, who runs an accommodation business in the village, said that she feels safer knowing Rachin’s team are keeping watch, but the 54-year-old still worries about methamphetamine taking hold in her community.
“I’m afraid if they start selling drugs in my village it will affect the youth. They will become addicts,” she said.
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