New York, June 1 (Agency) More than one billion methamphetamine tablets were seized in East and Southeast Asia last year, according to the United Nations. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in its report titled ‘Synthetic Drugs in East and Southeast Asia: latest developments and challenges 2022’ has stated that extreme volumes of methamphetamine are being produced, trafficked and used in the region, and that the synthetic drug trade continues to diversify. Jeremy Douglas, UNODC Regional Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said, “Organized crime syndicates and armed groups have exploited the pandemic and political instability in the Golden Triangle and border areas of Myanmar to expand production the past year.
There are very few drug labs found in the region outside the Triangle anymore, the supply continues to surge, and governments and agencies continue to report the same source.” The UN said that Lao PDR has become a major transshipment point for trafficking into Thailand and other parts of the Mekong and Asia Pacific, and Malaysia has also been used extensively for transit and trafficking to Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
According to the UN, a record amount of methamphetamine, nearly 172 tons, was seized in East and Southeast Asia in 2021, with over 1 billion methamphetamine tablets recorded for the first time. The total is seven times higher than it was 10 years ago when just more than 143 million tablets were seized, and over thirty-five times higher than it was close to 20 years ago when it was 28 million. Nearly 79 tons of crystal methamphetamine was also seized in 2021, just under the 82 tons seized in 2020, approximately eight times the 10 tons seized a decade ago, the UN added. Douglas said, “The scale and reach of the methamphetamine and synthetic drug trade in East and Southeast Asia is staggering, and yet it can continue to expand if the region does not change approach and address the root causes that have allowed it to get to this point, including governance in the Golden Triangle and market demand.”