YANGON (AFP) - Authorities in Myanmar have seized drugs worth $7.3 million (about K7.1 billion) buried in jungle in the "Golden Triangle" region, police said on August 12, raising fears of a boom in the narcotics trade in the notorious border region.
A combined military and police operation in eastern Shan State unearthed blocks of heroin, raw opium and nearly two million methamphetamine pills, a senior police officer from the anti-narcotics force told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"Our government is seriously concerned about the drugs situation," the officer said, adding that a crackdown on trafficking would continue.
Shan State is part of the "Golden Triangle" region where the borders of Myanmar, Thailand and Laos meet and has long been notorious for the production of narcotics.
Myanmar has made several big drug seizures in the region this year as it struggles to control a surging trade that is flooding the region with heroin and methamphetamine.
In July, authorities seized heroin with a street value of $2.3 million hidden in a car near the Thai border in the town of Tachileik in Shan State.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says 10 percent of the world's opium is produced in Myanmar, making it the second largest producer of the drug -- the base ingredient for heroin -- after Afghanistan.
Methamphetamine production is more difficult to trace, with the drug often produced in small, mobile laboratories in remote locations.
In June, Myanmar burnt seized drugs valued at about $130 million, including 1.3 tons of opium, 225 kilograms of heroin and 1.2 tons of methamphetamine tablets, to mark World Drugs Day.
