Latest news with #UNODC
Scoop
2 days ago
- Scoop
Rise In Production And Trafficking Of Synthetic Drugs From The Golden Triangle, New Report Shows
Bangkok (Thailand), 28 May 2025 – The illicit manufacture and trafficking of synthetic drugs from the Golden Triangle have grown exponentially, according to a report released today by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The explosive growth has led to a record amount of methamphetamine seizures in East and Southeast Asia, totaling 236 tons, marking a 24 per cent increase compared to 2023. 'The 236 tons represent only the amount seized, and just so much methamphetamine is actually reaching the market,' said Benedikt Hofmann, UNODC Acting Regional Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific. 'While these seizures reflect, in part, successful law enforcement efforts, we are clearly seeing unprecedented levels of methamphetamine production and trafficking from the Golden Triangle, in particular Shan State.' The report, titled Synthetic Drugs in East and Southeast Asia: Latest Developments and Challenges, shows that the production and trafficking of methamphetamine in Shan State, Myanmar, have significantly increased since 2021. 'The ongoing crisis in Myanmar is further increasing the need for proceeds from the drug trade, but at the same time there is a degree of stability in certain parts of the country, especially those known for large-scale synthetic drug production,' Hofmann said. 'This combination of conflict and stability has created favourable conditions for the expansion of drug production, impacting countries across the region and beyond.' Thailand remained the main transit and destination point for methamphetamine trafficked from Myanmar and recorded the largest quantity of methamphetamine seizures in the region, including one billion tablets of yaba – a combination of methamphetamine and caffeine popular in many parts of Southeast Asia due to its easy availability and low price. At the same time, transnational drug trafficking groups have increasingly exploited emerging trafficking routes to evade law enforcement detection. 'The trafficking route connecting Cambodia with Myanmar, primarily through Lao PDR, has been rapidly expanding,' said Inshik Sim, Lead Analyst at the UNODC Regional Office for Southeast Asia and the Pacific. 'Another increasingly significant corridor involves maritime trafficking routes linking Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines, with Sabah in Malaysia serving as a key transit hub.' The report highlights the evolving nature of transnational drug trafficking groups operating in East and Southeast Asia. These groups have demonstrated remarkable agility in reacting to law enforcement pressure, as shown by the spread of production sites for ketamine and related precursor chemicals, which has now reached most of the lower Mekong countries. Authorities in Viet Nam dismantled an industrial-scale facility in March 2025. Another example is the rise in the illicit manufacture of pharmaceutical products, especially etomidate and its analogues, designed to evade controls on novel substances. The report also underscores the growing use of technology across the entire chain of drug-related crimes, from planning, coordination, and the execution of trafficking to financial transactions and money laundering linked to the synthetic drug trade. 'With the surge in synthetic drug production and trafficking in the region, most countries report an overall increase in the use of methamphetamine and ketamine,' Hofmann said. 'However, in some countries, we are seeing a decline in the number of younger drug users admitted to treatment facilities, which may be attributable to drug use prevention campaigns targeting youth populations,' he added. 'It will be key for the region to increase investment in both prevention and supply reduction strategies.'
GMA Network
4 days ago
- GMA Network
Meth seizures in East, Southeast Asia at record high — UN
BANGKOK, Thailand - Seizures of methamphetamine in East and Southeast Asia were at record highs last year, a UN agency said Wednesday, with a "combination of conflict and stability" in Myanmar driving illicit drug production. Seizures of methamphetamine across the region totalled 236 tons in 2024, marking an "exponential" increase of 24 percent compared to 2023, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in a statement citing a new report. The number represents "only the amount seized, and just so much methamphetamine is actually reaching the market", Benedikt Hofmann, UNODC acting representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific region, said in the statement. The largest quantities of methamphetamine seized in the region were recorded in Thailand, the biggest destination and transit hub for the synthetic drug. In neighboring Myanmar, a "degree of stability" in areas of the country known for large-scale synthetic drug production combined with an ongoing crisis following a 2021 military coup had driven the "unprecedented" growth, Hofmann said. The spread of ketamine production sites to most of the lower Mekong countries showed the agility of transnational drug trafficking groups in evading law enforcement, UNODC said in the statement. "The trafficking route connecting Cambodia with Myanmar, primarily through Lao PDR, has been rapidly expanding," said Inshik Sim, lead analyst at the UNODC regional office, adding that maritime routes linking Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines had become another significant trafficking corridor. — Agence France-Presse
Al Jazeera
4 days ago
- Health
- Al Jazeera
Methamphetamine trafficking surges from ‘Golden Triangle' region
Drug production and trafficking are continuing to surge in the infamous 'Golden Triangle', where the borders of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand meet, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has warned in a new report on the scale of the regional trade in synthetic drugs. The UNODC said a record 236 tonnes of methamphetamine were seized last year in the East and Southeast Asia regions, marking a 24 percent increase in the amount of the narcotic seized compared with the previous year. While Thailand became the first country in the region to seize more than 100 tonnes of methamphetamine in a single year last year – interdicting a total of 130 tonnes – trafficking of the drug from Myanmar's lawless Shan State is rapidly expanding in Laos and Cambodia, the UNODC said. 'The 236 tons represent only the amount seized; much more methamphetamine is actually reaching the market,' the UNODC's acting regional representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, Benedikt Hofmann, said in a statement. 'While these seizures reflect, in part, successful law enforcement efforts, we are clearly seeing unprecedented levels of methamphetamine production and trafficking from the Golden Triangle, in particular Shan State,' Hofmann said. Transnational drug gangs operating in East and Southeast Asia are also showing 'remarkable agility' in countering attempts by regional law enforcement to crack down on the booming trade in synthetic drugs. Myanmar's grinding civil war, which erupted in mid-2021, has also provided favourable conditions for an expansion of the drug trade. 'Since the military takeover in Myanmar in February 2021, flows of drugs from the country have surged across not only East and Southeast Asia, but also increasingly into South Asia, in particular Northeast India,' the report states. The UNODC's Inshik Sim, the lead analyst for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said countries neighbouring Myanmar are becoming key trafficking routes for drugs produced in the Golden Triangle. 'The trafficking route connecting Cambodia with Myanmar, primarily through Laos PDR, has been rapidly expanding,' Sim said, using the acronym that is part of Laos's official name, the People's Democratic Republic. 'Another increasingly significant corridor involves maritime trafficking routes linking Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines, with Sabah in Malaysia serving as a key transit hub,' he said. Evolving, cell-based transnational organized crime groups based in East and #SoutheastAsia are increasingly adopting technologies across the entire drug supply chain while converging with other organized crime activities. Read more in our latest report: — UNODC Southeast Asia-Pacific (@UNODC_SEAP) May 28, 2025The UNODC report also notes that while most countries in the region have reported an overall increase in the use of methamphetamine and ketamine – a powerful sedative – the number of drug users in the older age group has grown in some nations. 'Some countries in the region, such as Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand, have reported consecutive increases in the number of older drug users, while the number of younger users has declined,' the UNODC report states, adding that the age trend needed to be studied further. The UNODC's Hofmann said the decline in the number of younger drug users admitted for treatment may be due to targeted drug use prevention campaigns. 'It will be key for the region to increase investment in both prevention and supply reduction strategies,' he added.
Japan Today
5 days ago
- Japan Today
Southeast Asia's illicit methamphetamine trade is at record high, the UN says
FILE - Thai soldiers stand beside seized 50 million methamphetamine pills hidden in sacks during a news conference at Thongphaphum Police station in Kanchanaburi province, Thailand, on Dec. 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Keskawe Chongchareon) By GRANT PECK The illicit trade in methamphetamine and other dangerous drugs is growing by leaps and bounds in Southeast Asia, with record levels of seizures serving as an indicator of the scale, U.N experts on the drug trade said in a new report Wednesday. Methamphetamine seizures, primarily in Southeast Asia, totaled 236 tons in 2024, a 24% increase over 2023. The increase applied to both crystal methamphetamine and methamphetamine tablets, the latter priced for a mass market, going for as little as U.S. $0.60 apiece in Myanmar. About 1 billion tablets were seized last year in Thailand. 'The sustained flood of methamphetamine to markets in the region has been driven by industrial-scale production and trafficking networks operated by agile, well-resourced transnational organized criminal groups,' says the report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, or UNODC. 'We are clearly seeing unprecedented levels of methamphetamine production and trafficking from the Golden Triangle, in particular Myanmar's Shan State," Benedikt Hofmann, UNODC acting regional representative, said in a statement. The 'Golden Triangle,' where the borders of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand meet, is famous for the production of opium and heroin, which flourished largely because the remote location and lax law enforcement. In recent decades, methamphetamine has supplanted it because it is easier to make on an industrial scale. What has turbocharged growth of the methamphetamine trade has been the political situation in Myanmar, where the army's February 2021 seizure of power has led to civil war. That has caused the flow of drugs to surge 'across not only East and Southeast Asia, but also increasingly into South Asia, in particular Northeast India,' the new report says. At the same time in Myanmar 'there is a degree of stability in certain parts of the country, especially those known for large-scale synthetic drug production,' Hofmann said, adding that the combination has 'created favorable conditions for the expansion of drug production." The report says traffickers have diversified routes to markets, both within Southeast Asia and beyond. Drugs are increasingly trafficked from Myanmar to Cambodia, mostly through Laos, as well as though maritime routes 'linking Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines, with Sabah in Malaysia serving as a key transit hub.' The report says some drugs enter the region from outside, including the 'Golden Crescent,' another major drug production area covering remote mountainous regions of Afghanistan, Pakistan and eastern Iran. Crystal methamphetamine from the Golden Crescent has been found in Southeast Asian nations including the Philippines, as well as in Japan and South Korea. North America has been the origin for methamphetamine found in Indonesia, Hong Kong, China, Japan, the Philippines and South Korea, involving trafficking by Mexican cartels, the report says. Traffickers have 'shown business acumen by leveraging digital tools and emerging technologies to facilitate and profit from the illicit trade in synthetic drugs,' it says, and some trafficking groups infiltrate legitimate businesses or set up front companies. One major development is the growing convergence between trafficking organized crime groups and those offering services such as underground banking, the report says. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Southeast Asia's illicit methamphetamine trade is at a record high, the UN says
BANGKOK (AP) — The illicit trade in methamphetamine and other dangerous drugs is growing by leaps and bounds in Southeast Asia, with record levels of seizures serving as an indicator of the scale, U.N experts on the drug trade said in a new report Wednesday. Methamphetamine seizures, primarily in Southeast Asia, totaled 236 tons in 2024, a 24% increase over 2023. The increase applied to both crystal methamphetamine and methamphetamine tablets, the latter priced for a mass market, going for as little as U.S. $0.60 apiece in Myanmar. About 1 billion tablets were seized last year in Thailand. 'The sustained flood of methamphetamine to markets in the region has been driven by industrial-scale production and trafficking networks operated by agile, well-resourced transnational organized criminal groups,' says the report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, or UNODC. 'We are clearly seeing unprecedented levels of methamphetamine production and trafficking from the Golden Triangle, in particular Myanmar's Shan State," Benedikt Hofmann, UNODC acting regional representative, said in a statement. The 'Golden Triangle,' where the borders of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand meet, is famous for the production of opium and heroin, which flourished largely because the remote location and lax law enforcement. In recent decades, methamphetamine has supplanted it because it is easier to make on an industrial scale. Myanmar's civil war fueled trafficking growth What has turbocharged growth of the methamphetamine trade has been the political situation in Myanmar, where the army's February 2021 seizure of power has led to civil war. That has caused the flow of drugs to surge 'across not only East and Southeast Asia, but also increasingly into South Asia, in particular Northeast India,' the new report says. At the same time in Myanmar 'there is a degree of stability in certain parts of the country, especially those known for large-scale synthetic drug production,' Hofmann said, adding that the combination has 'created favorable conditions for the expansion of drug production." The report says traffickers have diversified routes to markets, both within Southeast Asia and beyond. Drugs are increasingly trafficked from Myanmar to Cambodia, mostly through Laos, as well as though maritime routes 'linking Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines, with Sabah in Malaysia serving as a key transit hub.' Other drugs enter from beyond the region The report says some drugs enter the region from outside, including the 'Golden Crescent,' another major drug production area covering remote mountainous regions of Afghanistan, Pakistan and eastern Iran. Crystal methamphetamine from the Golden Crescent has been found in Southeast Asian nations including the Philippines, as well as in Japan and South Korea. North America has been the origin for methamphetamine found in Indonesia, Hong Kong, China, Japan, the Philippines and South Korea, involving trafficking by Mexican cartels, the report says. Traffickers have 'shown business acumen by leveraging digital tools and emerging technologies to facilitate and profit from the illicit trade in synthetic drugs,' it says, and some trafficking groups infiltrate legitimate businesses or set up front companies. One major development is the growing convergence between trafficking organized crime groups and those offering services such as underground banking, the report says.
