Army

Army-controlled Wa also

Drugs

Reporter: Hawkeye

It is unfair to blame the Wa for the proliferation of drugs, especially opium poppies, because Wa long under total Burma Army subjection have also been engaging in the culture non-stop, said visitors returning from Mawfah, north of Mongpiang, in eastern Shan State. 

Mawfah, now under the direct administration of Mongpiang's Markmarng sub-township, is also known by the locals as Kunkha-Kunkhong "The island (between) the Kha and the Khong a.k.a the Salween". It had been wrested from the Wa forces, then under the leadership of the Panghsang-based Communist Party of Burma, during the Min Yan Aung Operation in 1980, according to Burma in Revolt, by Burma specialist Bertil Lintner. 

The enclave has over 30 villages, the majority of them are Wa with names typically beginning with Yawng and Mot. Conservative figures put the number of households at 600. "90 percent of them make their living by growing poppies," said one of the returnees, who are also small opium traders. "Each household cultivates at least half an acre producing 3-8 viss (1 viss = 1.6 kg) each season." 

"It is a God-forsaken country," said a trader who also doubled as a herbal doctor. The communications system is such jackfruits, that grow abundant in the area, are pig-feed while in Kengtung, 65 miles east of the township seat, prices vary between 4,000-5,000 kyat apiece, according to him. 

"However, with opium, they don't have to worry about where the market is," he continued. "Customers came from all over, mostly Chinese and Lahu. Last March, they were selling new opium at 200,000 kyat per viss and old opium at 300,000." 

Military authorities from Mongpiang, since 2000, had been visiting the area telling the local residents not to grow poppies anymore, they said. "However, the war-like villagers told the officials they should help them change their traditional livelihood before banning poppy cultivation and subsequently destroying their lives and the officials went back each year with their pockets full," said a trader, who assured S.H.A.N. that it was not unusual to see Burmese soldiers carrying opium in their rucksacks, because many farmers did not have ready cash to pay their taxes. 

Mongpiang is a township in Monghsat district, opposite Chiangmai and Chiangrai province. It has three standing battalions: Infantry Battalion 43 and Light Infantry Battalions 360 and 528. 

According to the most recent 6-month report on Burma by the US State Department, 27 October, heroin produced in Burma "is of little importance in the US heroin market." Newsweek, 31 March issue, also reported that most of the American heroin came from Colombia and Mexico.