Heroin On The Rage Again

Heroin On The Rage Again

After years of keeping a low profile, opium and its derivative, heroin, is making a comeback, reported Maihoong from Southern Shan State. 

"Thanks probably to Thailand's incessant war on amphetamines, drug operators are going back to producing the white power again", said his source in Mongtaw, west of Mongton. 

"There are millions of horse pills waiting in vain for big buyers. Also, it takes time for the trader to get his payment in cash. With opium and heroin, it doesn't take so much time. It's an invariably cash on delivery setup here". 

"The price of opium has reached B. 27,000 per viss (1.6 kilogram) in Mongtaw and Sankarng (further west of Mongtaw). Heroin is up to B. 290,000 per block (700 gm)", he said. 

Concerning the low price of opium in Nakawngmu in the east, he said: "I learned it was due to the quality. A viss of opium grown along the border can get you much more heroin than that grown in the north". He added that most of the traders who came to sell their opium there had received their payments and many had already left. 

There are 3 laboratories in the area, according to his source: 2 in Sanzu-Sankarng, owned by Yang Erh, Hla Aung a.k.a. Yang Chaojing and Tin Win (a Lahu militia leader) and 1 in Maisoong, south of Mongtaw, owned by Chou Yin, a Kokang Chinese, who succeeded Li Zigao after he was nabbed by Yawdserk's SSA and escaped last year. 

"The Burmese commanders in the area, particularly Col. Win Kyi, the local commander of the Military Operations Command, are getting a lot of kickbacks from the growers, traders and from the lab operators". 

Maj. Soe Naing, Deputy Commander, IB 65, is reported to be taxing half a viss of opium per field. "He is now the successor to Maj. Nyan Myint of IB 225 in drug affairs in the area", he said referring to the commander who had been shelved after he was found guilty of "not sharing kickbacks enough with his superiors".