Labs move

Labs move, number unchanged

Drugs

More than two months after S.H.A.N.'s Show Business: Rangoon's War on Drugs in Shan State was released, the number of drug refineries in Mongton township, the largest in Shan State, remains most likely the same, according to an informed source from the border. 

Mongton is opposite Chiangmai province. 

The source, a former "businessman" who maintains his communications with his old associates, told S.H.A.N. while one of druglord Wei Hsuehkang's factories in Hopang-Hoyawd had definitely moved on 4 September, at least two labs hitherto unknown to him were discovered. There were also two others which he was unable to verify their continued existence. 

The largest cluster of refineries are found around Mongjawd (Mongkyawt), on the western sector of the Mongton-Chiangmai highway, "under Wa-Burma Army joint protection." 

According to him, a Captain Thein Maung, Commander, Company 3, Infantry Battalion 43 of Mongpiang, a township north of Mongton, had transported 40 barrels of unidentified liquid chemical, 20 liters to each barrel, and 4 bags of unidentified powder chemical, 50 liters to each bag, in 4 trucks, to a refinery 3 miles west of Mongjawd on Thursday, 19 February. 

The factory, owned by a Kokang Chinese, known only as Lao Sang Wu, was transferred to the area on 7 March 2003, 23-days before Wei Hsuehkang, Commander of the United Wa State Army's 171st Military Region, launched his "War on Drugs" operation code-named "Hunting Leopard," on a rival militia chieftain, Janu. His attack on 30 March resulted in the capture of more than 200 kg of opium, 13.5 kg of heroin and 67.7 kg of morphine, among others, according to Myanmar Information Committee. 

"The fact that Lao Sang Wu's factory was not touched clearly proves they are working hand in glove with each other," he concluded. 

Methamphetamine price on the border, in the meanwhile, has plunged to 3.5 baht from 10-12 baht last year, owing to the ongoing crackdown in Thailand. "As a result, most factories along the border are manufacturing only heroin", he said. "Yaba is made only if an order was placed."