Massive quantities of speed and some heroin have been seized in Sagaing Division and Mandalay as police claim a chain of successes.
On Thursday, police in Katha, Sagaing Division, apprehended a man travelling on a motorcycle with 213 grammes of heroin and 1,170 methamphetamine pills, with an estimated street value of 27.1 million kyat (US$23,000).
Earlier in the week, over 300 million kyat ($250,000) worth of pseudoephedrine — a stimulant often used for the illicit manufacture of methamphetamine — was seized on Tuesday when police stopped and searched a vehicle at a tollgate in the regional capital of Sagaing.
The officers said they found 14 bags of pseudoephedrine, weighing 61.5 kg and with an estimated value of 307 million kyat, hidden in the back seat of the vehicle, which was en route to Mandalay from Tamu at the Burmese-Indian border.
According to the police report, after questioning the vehicle’s driver and passenger, officers then raided a house in Mandalay’s Aungmyay Tharzan Township, where they confiscated an additional 500 kg of pseudoephedrine powder and 125,000 pills.
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The police then searched a second location in Mandalay, this time in Pyigyitagon Township, where they found 1,050,000 pseudoephedrine pills. Three more people in Mandalay were arrested in connection with the two busts.
Also on Tuesday, 14 June, police in the Sagaing Division town of Kale arrested a drugs suspect named as Cin Do Hmung, based on a tip-off. They then used that man as bait to lure another suspect, Zo Thang Pa Ying, from Tamu Township.
According to Kale district police commander Thiha: “Based on the tip-off, we detained the suspect in Kale with help from the anti-narcotics task force. We then got him to call this other suspect and lure her to the house.”
He said the pair had no illegal substances in their possession, but a search of a vehicle that police believe the two used to transport drugs unveiled a cache of mobile phones and 1 million kyat ($850) in cash.
Police said all suspects are being charged under the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law.
Burma’s police chiefs have recently launched what they are calling a “100-day programme” with objectives including crime alleviation, narcotics suppression, and road safety.
