Laos Police carries out Asia's biggest-ever drug bust, seizes 55 million meth pills: UN

In a major drug bust in the Asian continent, the Laos Police has seized a truck that was transporting 55 million methamphetamine tablets and over 1.5 tonnes of crystal meth. As per BBC, the United Nations has termed it as the "largest single drug seizure" ever recorded in Asia. The incident came into daylight when the police authorities stopped a vehicle containing beer crates near the Thai-Myanmar border in Bokeo. 

The area from which the drugs have been seized is known as the Golden Triangle. This region has always been the hotspot of significant drug production. Before the record bust, police had recovered a total of 16 million amphetamine tablets in two different investigations in the same location over a one-week timeframe.

UNODC regional representative on surge in drug supply 

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) regional representative for Southeast Asia, Jeremy Douglas said that it was "by far the largest seizure in the history of East and Southeast Asia," BBC reported. Douglas further revealed that the instability in the Shan state of Myanmar, which is bordering China, Laos, and Thailand, has resulted in a considerable rise in drug supply in recent months in the Golden Triangle area. He went on to say that the neighbouring area around Golden Triangle has been swamped with methamphetamine tablets, "and there is little doubt it is connected to the governance situation in Shan".

The UNODC regional representative informed that stringent COVID and security restrictions on China's Yunnan border with Myanmar "appear to be at least partly why trafficking has increased east into Laos and south into Thailand".  

Furthermore, this massive number of drugs were said to be loaded into beer crates from the Lao Brewery company. However, in a statement, the Lao Brewery Company claimed that the company had no participation in this issue. The statement reads that the company is profoundly disappointed with the fact that their containers have been exploited to conceal unlawful operations. It added that the firm would not hesitate to take urgent criminal action against anyone exploiting their corporate assets. 

It is to mention that methamphetamine tablets are basically used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It functions by altering the concentrations of certain natural compounds in the brain. Methamphetamine represents a group of drugs called stimulants. As per WebMD, despite the fact that it benefits a large number of individuals, this medicine has the capability to develop an addiction. 

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