The sharp rise in transnational crime and synthetic drugs in Southeast Asia requires cross-border cooperation

A Thai Navy launch ship moves at high speed into the murky brown waters of the Mekong River near the border town of Chiang Saen in northern Thailand. To the right is Laos, where massive foreign-funded construction projects are sprouting from the lush bushes along the riverbanks and to the left are the dense forests of Myanmar.

This is the legendary Golden Triangle, where opium was once grown to produce heroin for export, but in recent years the trade in synthetic drugs has become even more dangerous and profitable. more prevailed.

Thailand, Laos and Myanmar are the front lines of illicit trade in Asia dominated by transnational organized crime syndicates.

river tremors

The crew of the Thai boat are buoyed by the recent seizure of 6.4 million pills of the highly addictive and banned methamphetamine synthetic drug, known locally as yaba.

“I am surprised but also really pleased that we have captured this amount of yaba,” said Captain Phakorn Maniam, Chief of Operations and Intelligence of the Mekong River Unit, Royal Thai Navy. know. UN News. “Typically, this drug is seized on land; it’s a tough operation to catch criminals in the middle of the river,” he said, “and so I’m especially proud of our crew, who wholeheartedly defended our country and our people.”

A few miles downstream in the small town of Houay Xai on the Lao side of the Mekong, border authorities are celebrating their massive drug seizure; the night before, after being tipped off, an army ground patrol caught drug mules carrying 500 kilograms of methamphetamine. Last month, 7.1 million methamphetamine pills were also seized in the same area.

The drugs tracked in Laos and Thailand are sourced from illegal industrial-scale labs run by militias and criminal gangs in the remote mountain forests of northern Shan State in northern Shan State. Myanmar and is being shipped across both countries to the Thai capital Bangkok, but also through Southeast Asia and lucrative far-flung markets including Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Australia.

It is difficult to calculate with certainty the amount of synthetic drugs being produced in Myanmar, but some estimates suggest that hundreds of tons are being trafficked out of the country.

Despite the seemingly relentless flow of drugs, the Thai and Laotian authorities are achieving some success, thanks in part to the support of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime).UNODC) is promoting an intelligence-gathering network in the region.

Captain Phakorn Maniam deployed to Thai Navy’s Mekong Marine Unit

Officer C, who is based in Houay Xai with Lao authorities and does not wish to be named for security reasons, said cooperation with law enforcement agencies across the border in Thailand was through calls. Regular, face-to-face meetings and other forms of communication have improved responses to illicit trafficking. “With this cross-border cooperation and information sharing, we have been able to combat drug trafficking and other types of transnational organized crime.”

Anti-crime agencies in Thailand and Laos are cooperating more closely due to UNODCarea of Border Management Program whereby a network of border liaison offices or BLOs is established to enhance cross-border cooperation and information sharing.

The network of over 120 BLOs spans across Southeast Asia from Myanmar in the west to China in the east and Indonesia in the south and also includes Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

BLOs are being strengthened with UNODC support to combat what the agency’s Regional Representative to Combat Drugs and Crime in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, Jeremy Douglas, calls “one of the corridors biggest drug dealer in the world.”

The three countries of Thailand, Myanmar, and Laos come together in the Golden Triangle.

According to Douglas, the challenges in disrupting this transnational trade are enormous: “There are complex governance issues going on in the Golden Triangle and within Myanmar, with armed groups and Scattered militiamen engaged in drug trafficking and other illegal business activities control the territory. he say. “At the same time, these groups are operating in very remote places, and in some cases along very loose and open borders. It is very easy to transport drugs and illegal goods in and out of Myanmar and the situation is very difficult to solve for neighboring countries.”

The recent increase in synthetic drug production is “unprecedented” according to the UNODC Regional Representative, who believes that cooperation between countries is “fundamental” to stopping human trafficking: “This is a shared responsibility; Tackling transnational crime requires countries to work together to respond quickly to what is happening, especially along border areas.”

It’s not just drugs being trafficked across the region. Chemical precursors for the production of synthetic drugs are being smuggled into Myanmar in much larger quantities than drugs smuggled abroad. Trafficking in people, wildlife, timber and weapons is also taking place.

In such a complex and problematic environment, new skills are needed to deal with new challenges. As part of BLO’s support, UNODC has developed training partnerships with agencies across Southeast Asia.

A border liaison officer in Laos.

On Highway 1, about 40 kilometers south of the Thailand-Myanmar border, Police Lieutenant Colonel Amonrat Wathanakhosit is instructing his students in a hands-on exercise focused on locating freight vehicles. smuggled.

“Our students are using UNODC knowledge products and are training and learning how to question drivers, and they are getting used to the way they behave. Our students are growing more confident in identifying which drivers may be hiding synthetic drugs.”

Unlike heroin, whose production is limited by the natural growth cycle of the opium poppy, methamphetamine can be produced almost arbitrarily as long as precursors and other chemicals are available.

The cooperation of governments with UNODC support is helping to stem the flow of drugs, even as it is widely accepted that arrests account for only a small percentage of the drugs trafficked in the region. area.

Officers like Lt Col Amonrat Wathanakhosit recognize the challenges but she certainly speaks out on behalf of many in the region when she says that “my job is to try to stop drugs, which is very important to safety. security of my country.”

A Thai police officer stops a vehicle at a checkpoint 40 kilometers south of the Thailand-Myanmar border.