International Narcotics Control Strategy Report 2006

U.S. Department of State

International Narcotics Control Strategy Report 2006

March 2006

Burma

 

I. Summary

Burma is the world’s second largest producer of illicit opium, accounting for more than 90 percent of Southeast Asian heroin. Even so, Burma has just a small share of worldwide heroin, given Afghanistan’s exceptionally large opium/heroin production. Burma is also a primary source of amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) in Asia. Annual production of opium has declined over the past ten years and is now at less than 20 percent of mid-1990 peak levels. In 2005, Burma produced an estimated 380 metric tons of opium, less than eight percent of the opium produced in Afghanistan. Burma’s opium poppy is grown predominantly in the "Golden Triangle" border region of Shan State in areas near the borders of China, Laos, and Thailand that are controlled by former insurgent groups (less than one percent of Burma’s poppy crop is grown outside of Shan State).

Cultivation by ethnic Wa hill tribesmen along the Chinese border accounts for 40 percent of Burma’s total poppy crop, down from 55 percent in 2004. The decline in that area was accompanied by a resurgence in poppy cultivation in southern and eastern Shan State. Nonetheless, major Wa traffickers continue to operate with impunity and the government has been unable or unwilling to curb drug activities conducted by the United Wa State Political Leadership (UWSP) a criminal group controlling the United Wa State Army (UWSA), which is primarily responsible for criminal activities such as heroin/ATS production in Wa territories. The UWSA announced in June 2005 a total ban on poppy cultivation and opium production and trafficking, but UWSA noncompliance with that announced ban and involvement in methamphetamine production and trafficking remain serious concerns. In January 2005, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York unsealed federal indictments against seven UWSA leaders for conspiracy to possess, manufacture, or distribute heroin and methamphetamine.

During the 2005 drug certification process, the USG determined that Burma was one of only two countries in the world (the other was Venezuela) that had "failed demonstrably" to meet international counternarcotics obligations.
In addition to regular joint work with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Australian Federal Police (AFP) on narcotics investigations, the Government of Burma (GOB) has increased law enforcement cooperation with Thai and Chinese authorities, particularly through renditions, deportations, and extraditions of wanted drug traffickers. Burma is a party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention.

II. Status of Country

Burma is the world’s second largest producer of illicit opium, but produces only a small fraction of the opium that is now produced in Afghanistan. Eradication efforts and enforcement of poppy-free zones combined to depress cultivation levels from 2000 to 2004, especially in the Wa territory. A resurgence of cultivation in eastern and southern Shan State in 2005, however, where improved weather conditions and new cultivation practices increased opium production, led to a slight overall increase in cultivation and production in Burma. According to the UNODC, a persistent and strong demand in Asia for opiates and a falling supply in the Golden Triangle region led to a 22 percent increase in Burmese village-level opium prices, from $153 per kilogram in 2004 to $187 in 2005. Opium price increases, however, did little to alleviate the poverty of poppy farmers, who are among the most impoverished populations in Burma.

According to an annual U.S. opium yield estimate, in 2005 the total land area under poppy cultivation was 40,000 hectares (ha), an 11 percent increase over the previous year. Estimated opium production in Burma totaled approximately 380 metric tons in 2005, a 14 percent increase over 2004. A UNODC opium yield survey, using a different methodology, concluded that cultivation had actually declined 26 percent and production had declined 19 percent.

Nonetheless, both surveys estimated a yield average of 9.2 kilograms/ha, well below the peak level of 15.6 kilograms/ha recorded in 1996. Both surveys also concluded that Burma had experienced a significant downward trend over the past decade, with poppy cultivation and opium production declining by roughly 80 percent.

Declining poppy cultivation over the last ten years has been matched by a sharp increase in the production and export of synthetic drugs. Burma plays a leading role in the regional traffic of ATS. Drug gangs, many of which are ethnic Chinese, based in the Burma/China and Burma/Thailand border areas annually produce several hundred million methamphetamine tablets for markets in Thailand, China, and India using precursors imported from China and India.
According to GOB figures, during the first eleven months of 2005, ATS seizures totaled about 1.65 million tablets, a significant decrease from previous years. Authorities, however, seized over 280 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine ("Ice"). Aside from these important seizures, the government did not destroy any ATS labs in 2005 or take any other significant steps to stop ATS production and trafficking. The GOB has, however, stepped up its dialogue with law enforcement agencies and neighboring countries on the overall ATS problem.

Opium, heroin, and ATS are produced predominantly in the border regions of Shan State, areas controlled by former insurgent groups. Between 1989 and 1997, the Burmese government negotiated a series of individual cease-fire agreements, allowing each of several ethnically distinct peoples limited autonomy and continued narcotics production and trafficking activities in return for peace.

Since the mid-1990s, however, the Burmese government has elicited "opium-free" pledges from each cease-fire group. and as these pledges have come due, has stepped up law-enforcement activities against opium/heroin in the respective cease-fire territories. In June, the UWSA announced implementation of a long delayed ban on opium production and trafficking in Wa territory. The Wa tribal group, however, remain the country’s leading poppy growers and opium producers. According to many reports, the UWSP leadership facilitates the manufacture and trafficking of ATS pills in Wa territory, predominantly by ethnic Chinese criminal gangs. Although the government has not succeeded in convincing the UWSA to stop illicit drug production or trafficking, Burmese law enforcement entities stepped up pressure against Wa traffickers in 2005.

Burma has a small, but growing domestic drug abuse problem. UNODC estimated there are roughly 20,000 opium addicts in Shan State, thecountry’s largest poppy growing region. Surveys conducted by UNODC, among others, suggest that the overall drug addict population could be as high as 300,000, plus an additional 15,000 regular ATS users.

III. Country Actions Against Drugs in 2005

Policy Initiatives. Burma’s official 15-year counternarcotics plan, launched in 1999, calls for the eradication of all narcotics production and trafficking by 2014, one year ahead of an ASEAN-wide plan of action that calls for the region to be drug-free by 2015. The plan is to proceed in stages, with eradication efforts tied to alternative development programs in individual townships, predominantly in Shan State. The government initiated its second five-year phase in 2004. U Sai Lin’s Special Region No. 4 around Mong La has been declared opium-free since 1997; the Kokang Special Region No. 1 banned poppy cultivation in 2003 after missing a 2000 deadline; and the Wa Special Region No. 2, after several postponements, implemented a ban in June 2005. Despite substantial gains in reducing the cultivation of poppy, however, none of the regions is truly opium-free.

According to the 2005 U.S. opium yield estimate, poppy cultivation within Wa territories represents 40 percent of the total Burma crop, a decline from 55 percent in 2004, but there was a resurgence in cultivation in eastern and southern Shan State.

The most significant multilateral effort in support of Burma’s counternarcotics efforts is the modest presence of the UNODC in northern Shan State. The UNODC’s "Wa Project" was initially a five-year, $12.1 million supply-reduction program to encourage alternative development in territory controlled by the UWSA. In order to meet basic human needs and ensure the sustainability of a 2005 UWSA opium ban, the UNODC extended the project until 2007, increased the total budget to $16.8 million, and broadened the scope from 16 villages to the entire Wa Special Region No. 2. Major donors that have supported the Wa Project include the United States, Japan and Germany, while the UK and Australia have recently made additional contributions.

In 2003, the UNODC established a project in Wa and Kokang areas ("KOWI" project) aimed at supporting the humanitarian needs of farmers who have abandoned poppy cultivation and lost their primary source of income. The project’s principal objective is to prevent any return to poppy cultivation and thus to sustain drug control efforts in the long term. Altogether 18 partner organizations—including the World Food Program, the Food and Agricultural Organization, and NGOs—are coordinating activities under the KOWI umbrella to address basic human needs through the provision of food, health services, and education. The goal of these interventions, many of which commenced in 2004 and are scheduled to continue until the UN Development Program assumes oversight in 2008, is to ensure the recovery and development of communities through community-based initiatives. Japan and Italy were early donors to the UNODC’s KOWI project. Australia, Germany, the European Commission, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom provided support to the project’s NGO partners. UNODC plans to phase out its participation by 2007. Japan has undertaken a substantial effort to help the GOB establish buckwheat as a cash crop for former poppy farmers in the Kokang and Mong Ko regions of northeastern Shan State.

The Government of Burma, under a 1993 Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law, has in the intervening years issued notifications controlling 124 narcotic drugs, 113 psychotropic substances, and 25 precursor chemicals. Burma enacted a "Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Law" in 2004 and, in support of a 2002 Control of Money Laundering Law, enacted in 2003 specific "Rules for Control of Money Laundering Law."

Over the past several years, the Burmese government has extended its regional counternarcotics cooperation, including the signing in 2001 of Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with both China and Thailand; the opening, with UNODC support, of liaison offices on the Chinese and Thai borders over the past four years to facilitate the sharing of intelligence; annual joint operations with China that have destroyed several major drug trafficking rings; and the establishment with Thailand of three joint "narcotics suppression coordination stations."

According to the GOB, Thailand has contributed over $1.6 million to support an opium crop substitution and infrastructure project in southeastern Shan State. While not formally funding alternative development programs, the Chinese government has encouraged investment in many projects in the Wa area, particularly in commercial enterprises such as tea plantations and pig farms and has assisted in marketing those products in China through relaxation of duties and taxes.

GOB law enforcement cooperation with Thai and Chinese authorities is also manifested through renditions, deportations, and extraditions of wanted drug traffickers. Among several important cases, Burmese authorities in January arrested trafficker Ma Shun-su, one of China’s five most-wanted drug kingpins, and rendered him to China in connection with the seizure of 21 kilograms of heroin. Also in January, Burmese authorities took custody of Ko Naing Lin, whom Thailand had deported in connection with a 2004 seizure in Burma of 581 kilograms of heroin. In March, Burma took custody of two individuals from China who had been deported in connection with the same 2004 heroin seizure. In July, Burma and Thailand signed an MOU to address such issues as the sharing of seized financial proceeds from transnational organized crime. In October, Burma and India, during a joint meeting of senior Home Ministry officials, agreed to increase cooperation against drug trafficking.

Law Enforcement Measures. The Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control (CCDAC)—which is comprised of personnel from the police, customs, military intelligence, and army—leads drug-enforcement efforts in Burma. The CCDAC, effectively under the control of the Ministry of Home Affairs, now coordinates 25 drug-enforcement task forces around the country, with most located in major cities and along key transit routes near Burma’s borders with China, India, and Thailand. As is the case with most Burmese government entities, the CCDAC suffers badly from a lack of adequate resources to support its law-enforcement mission. In 2005, CCDAC established two new counternarcotics task forces in Rangoon and Mandalay, complementing existing task forces in those two cities. The GOB also established an additional Financial Investigation Team (FIT), located in Mandalay, to serve as a clearinghouse for northern Burma. This new team, established with DEA and Australian Federal Police (AFP) assistance, complements an existing FIT in Rangoon.

In January, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York unsealed federal indictments against seven UWSA leaders for conspiracy to possess, manufacture, or distribute heroin and methamphetamine. Among those indicted was Wei Hseuh-kang, whom the United States had previously indicted in 1993 and designated a Kingpin trafficker in 2000. The GOB has to date taken no direct action against any of the seven indicted UWSA leaders, although authorities have taken law enforcement action against other, lower ranking, members of the UWSA syndicate.

Narcotics Seizures. Summary statistics provided by Burmese drug officials indicate that during the first eleven months of 2005, Burmese police, army, and the Customs Service together seized approximately 1,000 kilograms of raw opium, 776 kilograms of heroin, 119 kilograms of marijuana, and just over 1.6 million methamphetamine tablets. Heroin seizures have more than doubled over the past three years. Opium, heroin and morphine seizures, however, account for just a fraction of Burma’s yearly potential opium production.

For the second year in a row, Burmese authorities made a massive heroin bust that disrupted international trafficking syndicates. In September, officials seized a major shipment of 496 kilograms of heroin in eastern Shan State and arrested 49 UWSA soldiers, including a brigade commander. The law enforcement operation, the first of its kind against UWSA assets, was the result of close cooperation with Chinese counternarcotics officials. Related investigations that led to additional seizures and arrests came about as a result of GOB cooperation with Laos and Thailand, as well as with the U.S. DEA.

In May, a joint operation among the GOB, DEA, and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) led to the seizure in Rangoon of 102 kilograms of ICE (crystal methamphetamine), disrupting a syndicate that had smuggled over 800 kilograms of ICE from Burma to markets in China, Malaysia, the Philippines, and the United States. Through November 2005, according to official statistics, Burma arrested 4,398 suspects on drug-related charges. The government’s counternarcotics task force in Lashio, northern Shan State dismantled two heroin refineries in 2005. The GOB eradicated 3,907 ha of opium poppy in 2005, a 28 percent increase from the previous year, but less than 10 percent of the entire poppy crop. Nonetheless, overall eradication accounts for over half of the reduction in areas under poppy cultivation since 2001.

Corruption. Burma signed the 2003 UN Convention Against Corruption on December 2, 2005. At year’s end, a government panel was reviewing domestic legislation and will recommend whether existing legislation can be amended to meet the Convention’s obligations, or if new legislation is required.

There is no reliable evidence that senior officials in the Burmese Government are directly involved in the drug trade. However, lower-level officials, particularly army and police personnel posted in border areas, are widely believed to be involved in facilitating the drug trade; and some officials have been prosecuted for drug abuse and/or narcotics-related corruption. According to the Burmese government, over 200 police officials and 48 Burmese Army personnel were punished for narcotics-related corruption or drug abuse between 1995 and 2003. Of the 200 police officers, 130 were imprisoned, 16 were dismissed from the service, 7 were forced to retire, and 47 were demoted. In 2004, the military junta ousted Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt, accusing him and hundreds of his military intelligence subordinates of corruption, including illegal activities conducted in northern Shan State. Authorities have not, however, charged any of these officials with drug-related offenses, and no Burma Army officer over the rank of full colonel has ever been prosecuted for drug offenses.

Government authorities, acting on the results on a joint investigation with DEA and AFP, closed the Myanmar Universal Bank (MUB) in 2005, including 38 branch offices throughout the country, and seized MUB assets of over $18 million. Police arrested the bank Chairman, Tin Sein, and several of his associates and charged them for money laundering and drug trafficking offenses. The GOB, also acting on results of DEA and AFP information, revoked operating licenses for the Asia Wealth Bank and Mayflower Bank due to irregularities associated with money laundering.

Agreements and Treaties. Burma is a party to the 1961 UN Single Convention as amended by the 1972 Protocol, the 1971 UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances, and the 1988 UN Drug Convention. In addition, Burma is also one of six nations (Burma, Cambodia, China, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam) that are parties to UNODC’s sub-regional action plan for controlling precursor chemicals and reducing illicit narcotics production and trafficking in the highlands of Southeast Asia. Burma is a party to the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime and its protocols against migrant smuggling and trafficking in persons.

Cultivation and Production. According to the annual U.S. opium yield estimate, in 2005 the total land area under poppy cultivation was 40,000 hectares, an 11 percent increase from the previous year. Estimated opium production in Burma totaled approximately 380 metric tons in 2005, a 14 percent increase from 2004. A UNODC opium yield survey concluded that cultivation in 2005 had declined 26 percent from the previous year, and by over 70 percent since 1996. UNODC also determined that production had declined 16 percent, from 370 metric tons in 2004 to 312 metric tons in 2005. Despite a variance in 2005 results, both the U.S. estimate and the UNODC survey estimated a yield average of 9.2. kilograms/ha, well below the peak level of 15.6 kilograms/ha recorded in 1996. Both surveys also concluded that Burma had experienced a significant downward trend in poppy cultivation/opium production over the past decade, with both declining by roughly 80 percent.

Drug Flow/Transit. Most ATS and heroin in Burma are produced in small, mobile labs located in the Burma/China and Burma/Thailand border areas, primarily in territories controlled by active or former insurgent groups. A growing amount of methamphetamine is reportedly produced in labs co-located with heroin refineries in areas controlled by the UWSA, the ethnic Chinese Kokang, and the Shan State Army-South (SSA-S). Ethnic Chinese criminal gangs dominate the drug syndicates operating in these areas.

Heroin and methamphetamine produced by these groups are trafficked overland (or via the Mekong River) primarily through China, Thailand, India, and, to a lesser extent, Laos, Bangladesh, and Burma itself. Heroin seizures in 2004 and 2005, and subsequent investigations, revealed the increased use by international syndicates of the Rangoon international airport and port for trafficking of drugs to the global narcotics market.

Demand Reduction. The overall level of drug abuse is low in Burma compared with neighboring countries, in part because many Burmese are too poor to afford a drug habit. Traditionally, some farmers use opium as a painkiller and an antidepressant because they lack access to adequate health facilities. There has been a growing shift away from opium smoking toward injecting heroin, a habit that is more addictive and that poses a greater public health risk.

Deteriorating economic conditions will likely stifle substantial growth in overall drug consumption, but the trend toward injecting narcotics is a significant concern. The government maintains that there are only about 70,000 registered addicts in Burma, but surveys conducted by UNODC, among others, suggest that the addict population could be as high as 300,000. NGOs and community leaders report increasing use of heroin and synthetic drugs, particularly among disaffected youth in urban areas and workers in ethnic minority mining communities. The UNODC estimated that in 2003 there were at least 15,000 regular ATS users in Burma and a joint UNODC/UNAIDS/WHO study estimated that there are between 30,000 and 130,000 injecting drug users These two baseline studies are the most recent reliable data available on the nexus between drug abuse and HIV/AIDS in Burma. There is also a growing HIV/AIDS epidemic, linked in part to intravenous drug use. According to a UNODC regional center, an estimated 26 to 30 percent of officially reported HIV cases are attributed to intravenous drug use, one of the highest rates in the world. Infection rates are highest in Burma’s ethnic regions, and specifically among mining communities in those areas, where opium, heroin, and ATS are readily available, i.e., along Burma’s northern and eastern borders.

Burmese demand reduction programs are in part coercive and in part voluntary. Addicts are required to register with the GOB and can be prosecuted if they fail to register and accept treatment. Altogether, more than 21,000 addicts were prosecuted for failing to register between 1994 and 2002. The GOB has not provided data since 2002. Demand reduction programs and facilities are strictly limited, however. There are six major drug treatment centers under the Ministry of Health, 49 other smaller detox centers, and eight rehabilitation centers which, together, have reportedly provided treatment to about 55,000 addicts over the past decade. As a pilot model, in 2003 UNODC established community-based treatment in Northern Shan State as an alternative to official treatment centers. About 1,600 addicts have participated in this treatment over the past three years. Since 2004, an additional 6,900 addicts have sought medical treatment and support from UNODC-sponsored drop-in centers and outreach workers active throughout northeastern Shan State. There are also a variety of narcotics awareness programs conducted through the public school system. In addition, the government has established demand reduction programs in cooperation with NGOs. These include programs with CARE Myanmar, World Concern, and Population Services International (PSI), all of which focus on injecting drug use as a factor in the spread of HIV/AIDS.

IV. U.S. Policy Initiatives and Programs

Policy and Programs. As a result of the 1988 suspension of direct USG counternarcotics assistance to Burma, the USG engages the Burmese government in regard to narcotics control only on a very limited level. DEA, through the U.S. Embassy in Rangoon, shares drug-related intelligence with the GOB and conducts joint drug-enforcement investigations with Burmese counternarcotics authorities. In 2005, these joint investigations led to significant seizures, arrests, and convictions of drug traffickers and producers. The GOB regrettably did not provide sufficient cooperation for a 2005 joint opium yield survey. The U.S., therefore, conducted a unilateral yield estimate, primarily on the basis of comprehensive satellite imagery. The U.S. also supported an annual crop survey carried out by the UNODC that, using a different methodology to determine yields, corroborates U.S. conclusions that poppy cultivation and opium production in Burma have been declining for nearly a decade. The United States supported the UNODC’s Wa project for several years as the largest international donor, contributing a total over $8 million. In January 2005, following the unsealing of indictments against seven UWSA leaders, the United States reallocated unspent funds from the Wa project to UNODC projects outside of Wa territory. Bilateral counternarcotics projects are limited to a small, U.S.-financed crop substitution project in northern Shan State (Project Old Soldier). No U.S. counternarcotics funding directly benefits or passes through the GOB.

The Road Ahead. The Burmese government has in recent years made significant gains in reducing opium poppy cultivation and opium production and has cooperated with the UNODC and major regional allies (particularly China and Thailand) in this fight. Although large-scale and long-term international aid—including development assistance and law-enforcement aid—is necessary to help curb drug production and trafficking in Burma, the military regime’s ongoing political repression has limited international support of all kinds, including support for Burma’s law enforcement efforts. Furthermore, a true opium replacement strategy must undertake an extensive range of counternarcotics actions, including crop eradication, effective law enforcement, alternative development, and support for former poppy farmers to ensure sustainability. The Burmese government must foster cooperation between itself and the ethnic groups involved in drug production and trafficking, especially the Wa, and enforce counternarcotics laws to eliminate poppy cultivation and opium production.

The USG believes that the Government of Burma must eliminate poppy cultivation and opium production; prosecute drug-related corruption, especially corrupt government and military officials who facilitate or condone drug trafficking and money laundering; take action against high-level drug traffickers and their organizations; enforce its money-laundering legislation; and expand demand-reduction, prevention, and drug-treatment programs to reduce drug use and control the spread of HIV/AIDS. The GOB must also address the explosion of ATS that has flooded the region by gaining support and cooperation from the ethnic groups, especially the Wa, who facilitate the manufacture and distribution of ATS, primarily by ethnic Chinese drug gangs. The GOB must also close production labs and prevent the illicit import of precursor chemicals needed to produce synthetic drugs. The USG also urges the GOB to stem the troubling growth of a domestic market for the consumption of ATS.