Opium, heroin, meth among $300 million worth drugs destroyed by Myanmar
Major cities across the Southeast Asian nation of Myanmar on Thursday, 26 June 2025, burnt and destroyed nearly $300 million of confiscated illegal drugs, reported the news agency AP.
Opium, heroin, methamphetamine, marijuana, ketamine, and ice which is also known as crystal meth were among the other confiscated illegal drugs which were being destroyed at the drug burning ceremony on Thursday, reported the news agency citing Yangon Police Brig. Gen. Sein Lwin from a speech.
The actual value of the drugs which were burnt across three locations in Myanmar on Thursday was worth $297.95 million, an official aware of the development told the news agency.
The video shared by the news agency on the social media platform X showed the official drug burning event with the fire department on-site to take control of the issue after the illegal drugs were destroyed publicly.
The United Nations' experts on the drug trade, earlier in May 2025, flagged that the illegal trade of meth and other dangerous drugs are rising in Southeast Asia with a record level of seizures showing the scale of the operation, according to the agency's earlier report.
The drug trade operations take place in the 'Golden Triangle' region comprising Myanmar, Laos and Thailand, meeting point, and Myanmar's eastern Shan State, as per the report.
The agency report also highlighted that the production of opium and heroin has been flourishing in the nation due to the country's lawlessness in border regions where Myanmar's central government exercises minimal control over many ethnic minorities, some of whom end up contributing to the drug trade operation.
On Thursday, Myanmar's largest city, Yangon, burned a massive pile of drugs worth more than $117 million, according to officer Sein Lwin, cited in the agency report.
The country carried out the same drug burning event across other cities like Mandalay and Taunggyi to mark the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. All of these areas are close to where these illegal drugs are being made, reported the news agency.
Myanmar has become a major source of illegal drugs supplied in East and Southeast Asia despite the frequent efforts to crack down on operations due to the country's long history of drug production and the nation's political and economic insecurities.
This supply has led to the rise in flow of drugs 'across not only East and Southeast Asia, but also increasingly into South Asia, in particular Northeast India,' according to the UNODC report released in May 2025, cited the news agency. The UN also flagged Myanmar as the world's largest opium producer in 2023.
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