Increased instability in Myanmar since a military coup a year ago has seen a surge in narcotics production there and trafficking into Southeast Asia and beyond, a senior official from the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) told Reuters.
Authorities in Laos, Thailand and Myanmar seized at least 90 million methamphetamine tablets and 4.4 tonnes of crystal methamphetamine last month, most of it manufactured in the remote border areas of Myanmar's Shan State, according to the UNODC.
"Meth production increased last year from already extreme levels in northern Myanmar and there is no sign it will slow down," said Jeremy Douglas, UNODC's regional representative in Southeast Asia.
