The synthetic drug trade in Asia is booming, with record-breaking meth seizures

Image: Reuters Berita 24 English - The United Nations reported on Monday that synthetic drug trafficking in East and Southeast Asia grew la...

Image: Reuters

Berita 24 English - The United Nations reported on Monday that synthetic drug trafficking in East and Southeast Asia grew last year, with officials seizing more than one billion methamphetamine tablets.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in a report that prices of methamphetamine, or meth, declined last year even as interceptions increased, indicating a boom in supply.

"The region is absolutely awash in methamphetamine," said Jeremy Douglas, UNODC Regional Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

While seizures of crystallized, liquid, and powdered meth decreased in 2021, the number of tablets seized increased, according to the report.

Throughout 2021, authorities in Asia seized a total of 171.5 tons of meth, up from 170 tons the previous year. More than 90% of the tablets were seized in Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia, where they are used recreationally as well as by workers.

"Seizures are being created in large numbers, but they have had little effect on the business. The volume of organized crime continues to rise "Douglas remarked.

The survey also noticed a significant shift in trafficking routes away from Myanmar's Shan State, which is the epicenter of meth manufacture.

Increased anti-narcotic activities in Thailand and Southern China pushed crime syndicates to expand their operations in northern Laos, resulting in a more than 660 percent increase in interceptions of meth pills in 2021.

According to Douglas, Laos was a "soft target" for human trafficking.

In Cambodia, a record 2.7 tonnes of ketamine was recovered, roughly fifteen times the quantity seized in the prior five years combined, according to the report.