Can Amphetamine be a Threat to the Burmese Community?

August 4, 2008

By HURFOM:

Sitting together on the boat with some Burmese teenagers who were travelling to work illegally in Thailand, I could hear many of them talking quietly about amphetamines. They said to the boat driver ‘if we could find some amphetamines here that would make the boat trip less boring as we sit here for the whole day.”

The driver replied, “why not, it is easy to find in Three Pagoda Pass, you should have asked me before the boat departed Jai Yin Seik Kyite Township. I could have found some in that town. Anyway don’t worry,” he added, “you can ask any motorbike taxis in Three Pagodas Pass, they will know where to find it.”

The boat trip took three days and two nights, after I spent two weeks visiting with my family. Many people expressed their feelings to me, how they experience their life in a country with a poor economy. Some people believed they should go and work abroad to have a better life. However, others thought maybe it is better to smuggle amphetamines to Thailand.

I remember Burma being different a decade ago. Now many youths become drug users. Even in Thailand, I can see Mon youth in the community standing on the bridge using drugs.

The boat drivers said to me, “if I can have amphetamines, I can last for two days with no food. Last time I drove for two days and one night without stopping. I visited Three Pagodas Pass to buy amphetamine, but a police officer found pills in my pocket. Fortunately, the police officer knew me, he told me, “don’t use a lot because you will have trouble.”

On July the 25^th, a member of the Maternal Affair Organization, Daw Khin Myo Yie and her three partners were arrested at a Thai Army checkpoint three miles from Three Pagoda Pass. They found about 10,000 pill amphetamines on her. According to the Thai law, the court will probably hand out a heavy sentence for such a large number of pills.

Daw Khin Myo Yie was also an informer for the Burmese Army in Three Pagodas Pass. She tried to investigate amphetamines smuggling from Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA). “Her arrest by the Thai Army showed that she was greedy,” said source from the Burmese Army in the area.

The Thai Army has recognized that Three Pagodas Pass was a drug zone and a transit point. According to a local source, an estimated 100, 000 pills are smuggled into Thailand every day. The Thai Army employs spies to investigate drug smugglers on the Thai-Burmese border. Every month, the Thai army arrested both Thai and Burmese drug smugglers in the border.

Many believed that the Thai Army efforts to eradicate drug smuggling are not successful because they do not have the support of the Burmese Army. “The Burmese army didn’t want to arrest the drug smugglers even though they know some,” said a source from New Mon State Party (NMSP).

Several Burmese generals’ families were detained for abuses of power and drug trafficking recently in Rangoon. The chief of the Bureau of Special Operations No.1, Lt-Gen. Ye Myint has resigned following the arrest of his son Aung Zaw Ye Myint on drug charges. Analysts have long said that the drug trade in Burma comes from who have power in the country.