“Myanmar’s Unprecedented Drug Seizure Exposes Intricate Links Between Opposition Northern Alliance Forces under the NLD/NUG and Global Narcotics Trade.”
Yangon 19 December 2023
On 18 December, Myanmar’s Anti-Drug Taskforce (Drug Enforcement Agency DEA) reported seizing an unprecedented 2.07 metric tons of methamphetamine in Yangon, directly linked to the Arakan Army (AA) smuggling network. Additionally, they confiscated significant quantities of chemical precursors and a container ship used by the AA for international drug smuggling.
The drug operation is spearheaded by AA Drug Cartel’s Colonel Kyaw Myat Oo, also known as Wai Thar Tun, who remains at large. However, 15 lower rank members of this AA drug cartel Army have been apprehended, and numerous assets from their illicit network have been seized nationwide between 1 and 9 December. It’s noteworthy that the Arakan Army AA, pinpointed in the 2017 UN report by former chief Kofi Anan’s Rakhine Commission, funds its 30,000-strong army through drug trafficking. The AA is a prominent member of the Northern Brotherhood Alliance, opposing Myanmar’s Junta army under Suu Kyi’s NLD party and its Government-in-exiled NUG currently represented by Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun in the U.N General Assembly.
Post the 2021 coup, the AA, alongside its cartel allies such as MNDAA, TNLA, KIA, and SSA-North, has transitioned from a regional to an international drug trafficking entity. This transformation is evident in the UNODC’s December 2023 findings, declaring Myanmar the global leader in opium and methamphetamine production.
For 75 years, Myanmar’s prolonged civil war has cultivated a breeding ground for international criminal syndicates, especially during the Cold War era. These drug armies, equipped with sophisticated weaponry like anti-aircraft missiles and tanks, have flourished with the collaboration of corrupt Myanmar Junta officials and successive regimes, including Suu Kyi’s controversial genocidal NLD/NUG tenure from 2015-2020.
The rampant availability of affordable drugs, with a crystal-meth tablet costing less than 30 U.S cents in Myanmar, coupled with illicit firearms produced by the cartel armies, intensified the 2021 political unrest. Notably, the majority of protesters post the February 2021 coup, following allegations of NLD/NUG electoral fraud, comprise underage individuals. These youths, influenced by the stress of the Covid-19 pandemic two year lockdown, have been documented using drugs during protests. Underage supporters of the NLD/NUG regime, proudly self-identifying as “Generation Z,” have formed armed resistance groups known as the PDF Peoples Defense Force. These groups, under the command of the NLD/NUG Government-in-exile, have engaged in fierce battles against the Junta Army, backed by their cartel allies, the “Northern Brotherhood Alliance.”
Although there’s limited independent research on drug consumption among underage PDF combatants, a significant number, predominantly computer game enthusiasts, have succumbed to drug addiction in a nation where crystal meth is more affordable than a simple cup of coffee.
About The Author
