Record Seizures In Golden Triangle Region: Lao Police Seize Millions Of Tons Of Crystals And Methamphetamine Tablets

The Golden Triangle area on the Ruak River and the Mekong River. (Wikimedia Commons/004.Berni.B)

JAKARTA - Lao police made record drug arrests in the Golden Triangle region, two security sources in Thailand confirmed on Thursday, in what the United Nations said was the largest drug raid in Asia.

More than 55 million methamphetamine tablets and more than 1.5 tonnes of crystal methamphetamine were seized by Lao police on Wednesday when they stopped a truck carrying crates of beer in northern Bokeo, which borders Thailand and Myanmar, two sources told Reuters. October 28.

Jeremy Douglas, Southeast Asia regional representative for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said the discovery was "by far the largest seizure in the history of East and Southeast Asia."

Wednesday's seizure followed the seizure by Lao police of a combined 16 million amphetamine tablets in two separate raids in the same area over a one-week period.

Authorities in Laos did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The Golden Triangle, the northeastern region of Myanmar that meets parts of Thailand and Laos, has a long history as a major drug-producing area.

The area is one of the major production centers for amphetamine-type stimulants, particularly methamphetamine, which is used by Asian crime syndicates with distribution networks reaching as far as Japan and New Zealand.

Douglas said the spike in the volume of drugs seized in Laos was due to a shift in smuggling routes within Myanmar, as a result of unrest in border areas since the coup in February.

"This is related to the disruption of security and governance in Myanmar's Golden Triangle and Shan, the overflow is hitting the region," Douglas said.