Page 30 - bon-dia-aruba-20220531

A30 world news
Diamars 31 mei 2022

1 billion pills seized: East, S.E. Asia hits ominous drug peak

By GRANT PECK armed ethnic minority
Associated Press groups that sometimes battle
BANGKOK (AP) — The the government and each
number of methamphet- other.
amine tablets seized in East "Every group denies involve-
and Southeast Asia exceeded ment in drug production and
a billion last year for the first trafficking and point at other
time, highlighting the scale groups as responsible, but the
of illegal drug production drug economy is arguably the
and trafficking in the region largest part of the economy in
and the challenges of fighting most or many parts of Shan
it, the U.N. said Monday. and border areas of Myanmar
The 1.008 billion tablets — and there is plenty of intel
which would weigh about connecting groups to labs and
91 tons altogether — were shipments," Douglas said.
part of a regionwide haul of The report also called Laos
almost 172 tons of metham- one of the countries most im-
phetamine in all forms, and pacted by methamphetamine
was seven times higher than trafficked out of Myanmar.
the amount seized 10 years One of Asia's biggest-ever
earlier, the U.N. Office on drug busts was made in Laos
Drugs and Crime said in a last October, with police
report. there seizing more than 55.6
"I think the region is literally million methamphetamine
swimming in methamphet- pills in a single raid. They
amine," said Jeremy Doug- also seized about 1,500 ki-
las, Southeast Asia regional lograms (3,300 pounds) of
representative for the U.N. crystal methamphetamine,
agency, at a news conference state media reported.
in the Thai capital Bang- The U.N. agency said it
kok unveiling the report on was concerned that criminal
"Synthetic Drugs in East and enterprises were targeting
Southeast Asia." greater risk to people and Douglas said at Monday's demand which is seemingly Cambodia as a drug produc-
"So there's going to have to be their communities, the report news conference that there is growing and can continue tion site. One covert labora-
a radical policy shift by East said. According to Douglas, a fundamental need to refo- to grow because of the price tory dismantled there last
Asia to address this problem when he first worked in the cus law enforcement efforts point of the drug is so cheap." year was an industrial-scale
or it's just going to continue region in 2002-2007, a meth against the drug trade. Given the problem of lim- facility set up to produce ket-
to grow," Douglas said. tablet cost five to six times "There's lots and lots of sei- ited governance and low at- amine and potentially other
The drugs are largely con- what it costs now. zures being made and no im- tention to the issue, the UN. drugs, the report said.
sumed in Southeast Asia but Methamphetamine is easy pact being made on the busi- agency said organized crime Ketamine is used legitimately
also exported to New Zea- to make and has supplanted ness itself. Organized crime syndicates have the means as an anesthetic, but its non-
land and Australia, Hong opium and its derivative her- just keep cranking out the to continue to produce more medical use and clandestine
Kong, Korea and Japan in oin to become the dominant volume, replacing seizures meth and to sell it to a grow- manufacture was concerning
East Asia, and increasingly to illegal drug in Southeast Asia with more product," Douglas ing population of young peo- to the U.N. agency.
South Asia. for both use and export. said. ple with increased spending Many nations tried to halt
"Production and traffick- The Golden Triangle area, "The chemical situation is power. meth production by chok-
ing of methamphetamine where the borders of Myan- highly complex and there's The political landscape has ing supplies of precursors,
jumped yet again as supply mar, Laos and Thailand meet, no essential chemicals being also served to ramp up pro- usually ephedrine and pseu-
became super concentrated was historically a major pro- seized and they just continue duction. doephedrine, best known for
in the Mekong (River region) duction area for opium and to flow unabated, primarily In Myanmar, the military being used in decongestant
and in particular Thailand, hosted many of the labs that through Laos into (Myan- seized power from an elect- medicines. But the U.N.
Laos and Myanmar," Douglas converted it to heroin. De- mar's) Shan State," Douglas ed government last year and agency said some metham-
told The Associated Press in cades of political instability added. "We also have huge is now engaged in an armed phetamine producers have
an email. have made Myanmar's fron- money laundering operations struggle against foes of mili- clearly learned to make these
The increased production tier regions largely lawless, to at play in the region. We have tary rule. precursors from non-con-
makes the drug cheaper and be exploited by drug produc- no attempt fundamentally at Drug production in Myan- trolled substances that can be
more accessible, creating ers and traffickers. the end of the day to address mar is often associated with freely and legally traded.

Indonesian fishermen rescue 10 more survivors of sunken boat

Associated Press who like many Indonesians asked for a ride on the boat
MAKASSAR, Indonesia uses only one name. with its six crew members.
(AP) — Ten more survivors The KM Ladang Pertiwi 02 Ferry tragedies are common
of an Indonesian boat that sank in bad weather in the in Indonesia, an archipelago
sank three days earlier were Makassar Strait on Friday af- of more than 17,000 islands,
rescued Monday by local ternoon. It had left Makassar where ferries are often used
fishermen, leaving 11 people on Thursday and was headed for transport and safety regu-
still missing, an official said. to Kalmas Island in South lations are often disregarded.
The captain and other crew Sulawesi province. The cause In 2018, an overcrowded fer-
of the cargo vessel, which of the sinking was still being ry with about 200 people on
was carrying 42 people, were investigated. board sank in a deep volcanic
among those rescued Mon- The vessel was initially de- crater lake in North Sumatra
day, said Djunaidi, head of scribed as a passenger ferry, province, killing 167 people.
the provincial search and res- but Djunaidi later clarified In one of the country's worst
cue agency. that it was a cargo boat car- recorded disasters, an over-
"They are safe and in good rying construction materials. crowded passenger ship sank
condition," said Djunaidi, Thirty-six passengers had in February 1999 with 332 people aboard. There were only 20 survivors.