In Mongton in Southern Shan State (opposite Chiang Mai Province, Thailand) opium is 25,000 baht ($780) a kilo down from up to 40,000 baht ($1,250) a kilo last year. In Panglong and Namzang in Northern Shan State it is 650,000 kyat ($650) a kilo, down from 700,000-750,000 kyat ($700-750) kilo last year.

“The reason is there are few buyers,” said a source close to a government established People’s Militia Force (PMF) in Namzang, Loilem district.

He said: “The group was notified by the Burma Army that Naypyitaw wants their refining activities suspended for the time being.”

Since the Burma Army’s crackdown on the United Wa State Army's (UWSA) drug operations in 2005, the PMFs have emerged as the main beneficiaries as outside investors began moving their refineries and assets into areas under the control of PMFs.

However the government began launching operations against the PMFs’ drug activities in the past few months. Areas under the control of big names like Ai Long and Ja Ngoi of Punako PMF in Monghsat township and Yishay of Nampong PMF in Tachilek township, both in Southern Shan State opposite Chiang Rai Province in Thailand, were raided.

A local Source said: “The PMF leaders were informed in advance of the planned raids, so there were only token losses.”

All the PMF leaders, who are well known to the Thai drug enforcement agencies, have been left untouched.

The source said: “The PMFs are now looking for new refinery sites,  in the meantime they don’t want to burden themselves with security over the new harvest.”

According to sources in Southern Shan State the area has seen a significant increase in poppy cultivation. Converesely, poppy cultivation has decreased in Northern Shan State due to increased fighting between the Burma Army and the Kachin-Shan-Ta’ang-Kokang alliance.

A local source in Northern Shan State said: “Farmers don’t dare visit their rice and corn fields, let alone grow poppies, so there will be many families not getting enough food to feed themselves.”

The weather has also been unfavourable for legal crops. A farmer in Panglong said: “There have been a lot of dry stretches during the rainy season and just before the harvest, there was a big downpour that destroyed a lot of fields including mine.”
Next month the four Mekong countries of China, Laos, Burma and Thailand will establish a joint center in Chiang Mai, Thailand where they can pool resources to tackle the drug trade in the Mekong area according to a Bangkok Post report on 14th December.

Edited for BNI by Mark Inkey