‘Alum’ found in Andaman Sea, turns out it’s meth
YANGON: Sacks of crystal meth scooped from the sea by Myanmar fishermen who mistook it for a deodorant substance had a street value of $20 million, an official told AFP on Sunday, in a country believed to be the world’s largest methamphetamine producer.
The accidental drug haul off Myanmar’s coastal Ayeyarwady region occurred when fishermen spotted a total of 23 sacks floating in the
Andaman Sea on Wednesday.
Each one contained plasticwrapped bags labelled as Chinese green tea - packaging commonly used by Southeast Asian crime gangs to smuggle crystal meth to destinations, including Japan, South Korea
FISHERMEN SCOOPED 23 SACKS OF CRYSTAL METH VALUED AT $20 MILLION AND MISTOOK IT FOR A DEODORANT SUBSTANCE
and Australia.
Locals were mystified by the crystallised substance in the sacks, said Zaw Win, a local official of the National League for Democracy party who assisted the fishermen and police. At first, they assumed it was a natural deodorant chemical known as potassium alum, which is widely used in Myanmar.
“So they burned it, and some of them almost fainted,” he told AFP. They informed the police, who on Thursday combed a beach and found an additional two sacks of the same substance - bringing the total to 691kg which would be worth about $20.2 million, Zaw Win said.
“In my entire life and my parents’ lifetime, we have never seen drugs floating in the ocean before,” he said.
The massive haul was sent on Sunday to Pyapon district police, who declined to comment on it.
Myanmar’s multibilliondollar drug industry is centred in eastern Shan state, whose poppy-covered hills are ideal cover for illicit production labs.