Poppy fields on the roadsides again

Poppy fields on the roadsides again

After several years of disappearing from the view of travelers on the motor-roads, poppy fields have made a re-appearing act this year, said a visitor from Kunhing yesterday. 

"Coming this way, it struck me that I hadn't seen them for a very long, long time, although we always knew people were still growing poppies somewhere out of sight," he told S.H.A.N.. 

The report supports an earlier piece of information of a meeting between a high officer from the Eastern Regional Command headquarters in Rangoon and the Shan village headmen in Kengtawng, Mongnai Township, on 10 November. Although sources were unable to name him, they said he arrived in Kengtawng three days earlier in a 25-truck convoy. "He told us he sympathized with us and wanted to help us increase our income," said one. 

According to the sources, the officer then set out to instruct them that they were to draw seeds from Company 3, IB 246, currently on tour in Kengtawng. A wealthy Chinese would arrive during harvest time to buy the output from them. 

As a result, poppy acreage has increased at least two-folds in several townships in southern Shan State, they said. 

"The demand has risen also," said another source in Mongton opposite Chiangmai. 

The price of new opium has jumped to B. 17,000 from B. 12,000 last month. The price of heroin has also gone up to B. 180,000 per block (700 gm). 

"The Burmese cut from each block is B. 2,000 and the Wa B. 1,000, so it makes everyone happy," added the source. 

Thai drug watchers, meanwhile, are predicting that prices will continue to rise, due to the war in Afghanistan that has displaced hundreds of thousands of poppy growers.