YANGON, Myanmar
Authorities have intercepted what could be a record drug haul on its way to a conflict-torn, impoverished area on Myanmar's border with Bangladesh.
The seizure was made after a truck -- on its way to the country’s westernmost state of Rakhine State -- was stopped in a town in Bago region, about 290 kilometers (181 miles) northwest of Myanmar’s biggest city Yangon,
On Sunday, Maung Soe, a senior police officer in capital Nay Pyi Taw, told Anadolu Agency that the seizure revealed an estimated 28-million methamphetamine pills found in 15 drums of oil.
“That number is based on an estimated 1,900,000 pills per barrel,” he said by phone, adding that police are still working out the exact number of pills.
“This will be a record drug seizure in the country’s history if the number is true,” he added.
Methamphetamine -- a highly addictive drug whose ever-soaring popularity has rattled governments across Asia -- is sold in pill form as "ya ba" ("crazy medicine"), or as a crystalline substance known as "ice", "shabu" or "crystal meth".
Rakhine, meanwhile -- one of the poorest regions in Myanmar -- has seen an increase in criminality and drug trading over the last few years.
On Friday, the State Counselor's Office Information Committee said 2.5 million methamphetamine pills were also seized on a boat in the Naf River between Myanmar and Bangladesh.
Three people -- all Rakhine Buddhists -- were also arrested for drug trafficking, it said.
In September, authorities raided a factory in Maungdaw Township in the state's north where they found 6.2 million methamphetamine pills.
The previous record drug seizure in Myanmar occurred in July, 2015 when police found 26.7 million methamphetamine pills -- then worth around $106.4 million -- in a truck parked near a supermarket in Yangon.
In a 2015 report, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said that Myanmar -- the world second-largest producer of opium -- said that methamphetamine pills -- Asia's "number one drug threat" -- found across Southeast Asia and beyond originated from Myanmar.
“Reports of methamphetamine tablets originating in Myanmar and seized in China and Thailand indicate that increasing quantities are being trafficked from Myanmar across their joint borders,” it added.
