Myanmar police have made in decades, seizing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of contraband including "unprecedented" amounts of methylfentanyl, a chemical used to make a dangerously potent synthetic opioid.
The seizures announced Monday were conducted during a three-month operation that centered around Lwe Kham village in Kutkhai Township in Myanmar's northeast Shan state. Thirty-three suspects were arrested.
Jeremy Douglas, the regional coordinator for the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC), said the scale of the seizure was "truly off-the-charts."
Police seized nearly 200 million , more than 500 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine, and 35.5 metric tons and 163,000 thousand liters of precursor chemicals used to manufacture illicit drugs, Myanmar authorities and the UNODC said in a joint statement.
They also seized nearly 3,750 liters (990 gallons) of liquid methylfentanyl, which is used to make a powerful synthetic opioid like fentanyl. It is believed to be the first time authorities have discovered such a massive amount of fentanyl or one of its analogues in Southeast Asia.
The region has so far been spared an opioid crisis like that in the United States, but experts have warned that drug producers in Asia may eventually chose to supply those who use opiate drugs like heroin with synthetic opioids, which are made to mimic the chemical structure of poppy-based drugs.
From CNN - https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/18/asia/myanmar-drug-bust-intl-hnk/index.html
I wonder how this will affect General retirement plans in Thailand.