This man’s gamble in Bangkok has failed desperately. But this heroin seizure is a drop in the ocean. For the hundreds of tonnes that do get through, Thailand is the major transit point. But the world’s major producer is Burma. Earlier this century Burma was one of the richest nations in south-east Asia. But for the past 30 years it’s been stuck in a time warp — poverty stricken and closed off from the world. Under the rule of the military, Burma is now Myanmar, and Rangoon has become Yangon, but Mandalay — a name to conjure with — remains the same.
It’s not just the romance that’s attracted people to Mandalay. This has always been a vital trading post between the mountains and the river. For centuries it’s been the hub for gems, timber and rice, and recently the more valuable commodity of heroin. Foreign journalists rarely gain access to Burma and when they do it’s always for a reason. This time we’re here to be shown what the military government is doing about the drugs trade.
These are the men from SLORC, the rulers of Burma. International pariahs since their brutal suppression of the pro-democracy movement in 1988, which left 3,000 people dead.
Col. KYAW WIN (Dep. Director, Military Intelligence): Before 1988, we got assistance to put an end to the drug menace here — but since 1988 there has been little help from the international community. We have been battling the problem on our own. We have made it a national priority.
But some claim in this part of the world, governments themselves are players in the heroin game.
One of their accusers is Burma expert and journalist, Bertil Lintner.
Lintner: Drug related corruption is endemic in all the countries around the Golden Triangle. Thailand is not the only example. Burma, China, even Laos, vast quantities of heroin go through those countries with official complicity. In China for instance, several reports indicate that army trucks carry tons of opium up to Kunming and on to Hong Kong and Canton for export abroad. In Burma, vast quantities of heroin go down to Mandalay, from Mandalay up to the Indian border, and again you see heroin being transported in official vehicles.
To see for ourselves we head north on the Burma Road. We’re heading to the Golden Triangle, a region the world sees as notorious, but the SLORC now hold up as success story in its anti-drugs campaign.
One irony of this country’s long isolation is that unlike with its more open Asian neighbours, many of Burma’s traditions have been preserved, like this Buddhist’s coming of age celebration.
Over the steep mountain passes first built by the British, lies the military stronghold of Lashio. Since the days of the Raj, this gate at the town’s edge has been a local customs check for all manner of traffic. This agent is searching for drugs — heroin produced in the nearby mountain valleys on Burma’s side of the Golden Triangle.
Lashio is a borderland where the faces of the Burmese are replaced by the hill tribes, the traditional growers of the opium poppy.
Army and police officers say they stop all they can, but critics say these seizures are nothing compared with what gets through, for a price.
Lintner: Well they’re not involved in the trade in the sense that they buy and sell opium or heroin. They would be involved in providing protection for convoys — for instance, truck convoys going from * * down to Mandalay. And then there’s about seven or eight checkpoints along that road. You need official permission to pass those checkpoints. You can get such permission if you pay the military in Lashio for instance.
But in Lashio, the military commander denies such accusations. Is the major convinced that the police officers and the military people on the road, the lower ranking people, are in fact all completely honest with their work? That they’re not involved.
Major TIN MAUNG HTAY (Army Commander, Lashio): When it comes to business we do not do anything dishonest. We know the danger of drugs not only to Burma, but the whole world. We take great care in attacking this problem.
Up here the roads are almost impassable. There’s virtually no infrastructure and villages are poor. Our first stop is with the Wa Tribe. Just a few years ago, Burma was at war with the Wa people, now it’s teaching them how to grow crops to replace the poppies they once used to fund their fight.
For decade the Wa guerillas have fought Rangoon for more autonomy. While they’ve reached a fragile cease fire with the government, they remain ready to fight if SLORC impinges too far into their hill country.
Kya: We still retain our weapons, but only to protect our own areas — not for aggression.Williams: How dependent are the Wa people on the production of heroin and opium?
LIU SHIN KYAW: The government has a ten year plan for eradication of poppy plantations. They are reducing them year by year.
Interpreter: Are there still areas growing opium?
Kya: Yes, but it’s only grown in those areas where crop substitution couldn’t be performed.
But drug agencies say the Wa are still the biggest poppy grower in this, the world’s biggest heroin producing region.
It’s here, right at the top of Burma that you begin to see the difference between SLORC PR and reality. This is as far as you can go on the Burma Road.
Across the bridge is China. This side is controlled by Wa and Kokang insurgents. Both groups in the past have been major producers of opium and heroin.
But this is also as far as the Burmese Army can go — even in their own country. It’s where Rangoon’s writ runs out. Its army can only operate here with permission from the Kokang tribe. As part of the cease fire agreement, these guerillas remain armed, and it’s they who let us across their line to see what progress the agreement is bringing them. Until the cease fire these mountain valleys were covered with poppies — a source of income for the villagers, a means of buying weapons for the guerillas. As an incentive to persuade them not to grow poppies, SLORC is building schools, hospitals and houses.
Roads too, but that’s a touchy point here. Some tribal leaders argue they are a Trojan horse for the Burmese army if fighting ever breaks out again. And that’s not to be ruled out. Relations are tense and the army sensitive about its presence here. These were the only government troops we were allowed to film — the truckloads of heavily armed soldiers we also saw were off limits for the camera.
This is Lao Khai, a poor village the Kokang call their capital. It used to be surrounded by poppy fields. Now the government says they’ve been replaced by legal cash crops. But it’s an area controlled by Yang Mo Lian, a man international drug agencies still accuse of running a major heroin trafficking business.
His son gives us the official line.
YANG KHU LIANK (okang Leader): Everyone supports the nation’s goal to eradicate opium. But this is not something that can happen overnight. You must also consider what will replace it. At the moment, growing opium is our livelihood. There is little else to replace it.
While the Kokang leaders pay lip service to the SLORC PR line, many of the tribes people don’t.
Man: How come I can’t do it? Poppies are my occupation —my way of life! I know it’s illegal to grow them. I was fined $20. But I still want to grow them. I’m only a small grower.
The Golden Triangle may have an exotic image but the reality is a harsh land. Even when these people grew poppies, life was hard. But while poppies grew well here, the beans and maize crops that have replaced them are repeatedly destroyed by rats.
Woman: Our lives are much harder than before.
Man: What can we grow instead of opium? All other crops get eaten by rats.
Woman: We don’t want to grow poppies — we know it’s not good.
In such conditions it’s little wonder that just a few hours walk over the mountains other members of their tribes still grow opium poppies and refine heroin — and that’s the dilemma. But until there are genuine political reforms the west is unlikely to resume direct aid for anything. And that means Burmese heroin will continue to flow from the Golden Triangle.
It’s not just the romance that’s attracted people to Mandalay. This has always been a vital trading post between the mountains and the river. For centuries it’s been the hub for gems, timber and rice, and recently the more valuable commodity of heroin. Foreign journalists rarely gain access to Burma and when they do it’s always for a reason. This time we’re here to be shown what the military government is doing about the drugs trade.
These are the men from SLORC, the rulers of Burma. International pariahs since their brutal suppression of the pro-democracy movement in 1988, which left 3,000 people dead.
Col. KYAW WIN (Dep. Director, Military Intelligence): Before 1988, we got assistance to put an end to the drug menace here — but since 1988 there has been little help from the international community. We have been battling the problem on our own. We have made it a national priority.
But some claim in this part of the world, governments themselves are players in the heroin game.
One of their accusers is Burma expert and journalist, Bertil Lintner.
Lintner: Drug related corruption is endemic in all the countries around the Golden Triangle. Thailand is not the only example. Burma, China, even Laos, vast quantities of heroin go through those countries with official complicity. In China for instance, several reports indicate that army trucks carry tons of opium up to Kunming and on to Hong Kong and Canton for export abroad. In Burma, vast quantities of heroin go down to Mandalay, from Mandalay up to the Indian border, and again you see heroin being transported in official vehicles.
To see for ourselves we head north on the Burma Road. We’re heading to the Golden Triangle, a region the world sees as notorious, but the SLORC now hold up as success story in its anti-drugs campaign.
One irony of this country’s long isolation is that unlike with its more open Asian neighbours, many of Burma’s traditions have been preserved, like this Buddhist’s coming of age celebration.
Over the steep mountain passes first built by the British, lies the military stronghold of Lashio. Since the days of the Raj, this gate at the town’s edge has been a local customs check for all manner of traffic. This agent is searching for drugs — heroin produced in the nearby mountain valleys on Burma’s side of the Golden Triangle.
Lashio is a borderland where the faces of the Burmese are replaced by the hill tribes, the traditional growers of the opium poppy.
Army and police officers say they stop all they can, but critics say these seizures are nothing compared with what gets through, for a price.
Lintner: Well they’re not involved in the trade in the sense that they buy and sell opium or heroin. They would be involved in providing protection for convoys — for instance, truck convoys going from * * down to Mandalay. And then there’s about seven or eight checkpoints along that road. You need official permission to pass those checkpoints. You can get such permission if you pay the military in Lashio for instance.
But in Lashio, the military commander denies such accusations. Is the major convinced that the police officers and the military people on the road, the lower ranking people, are in fact all completely honest with their work? That they’re not involved.
Major TIN MAUNG HTAY (Army Commander, Lashio): When it comes to business we do not do anything dishonest. We know the danger of drugs not only to Burma, but the whole world. We take great care in attacking this problem.
Up here the roads are almost impassable. There’s virtually no infrastructure and villages are poor. Our first stop is with the Wa Tribe. Just a few years ago, Burma was at war with the Wa people, now it’s teaching them how to grow crops to replace the poppies they once used to fund their fight.
For decade the Wa guerillas have fought Rangoon for more autonomy. While they’ve reached a fragile cease fire with the government, they remain ready to fight if SLORC impinges too far into their hill country.
Kya: We still retain our weapons, but only to protect our own areas — not for aggression.Williams: How dependent are the Wa people on the production of heroin and opium?
LIU SHIN KYAW: The government has a ten year plan for eradication of poppy plantations. They are reducing them year by year.
Interpreter: Are there still areas growing opium?
Kya: Yes, but it’s only grown in those areas where crop substitution couldn’t be performed.
But drug agencies say the Wa are still the biggest poppy grower in this, the world’s biggest heroin producing region.
It’s here, right at the top of Burma that you begin to see the difference between SLORC PR and reality. This is as far as you can go on the Burma Road.
Across the bridge is China. This side is controlled by Wa and Kokang insurgents. Both groups in the past have been major producers of opium and heroin.
But this is also as far as the Burmese Army can go — even in their own country. It’s where Rangoon’s writ runs out. Its army can only operate here with permission from the Kokang tribe. As part of the cease fire agreement, these guerillas remain armed, and it’s they who let us across their line to see what progress the agreement is bringing them. Until the cease fire these mountain valleys were covered with poppies — a source of income for the villagers, a means of buying weapons for the guerillas. As an incentive to persuade them not to grow poppies, SLORC is building schools, hospitals and houses.
Roads too, but that’s a touchy point here. Some tribal leaders argue they are a Trojan horse for the Burmese army if fighting ever breaks out again. And that’s not to be ruled out. Relations are tense and the army sensitive about its presence here. These were the only government troops we were allowed to film — the truckloads of heavily armed soldiers we also saw were off limits for the camera.
This is Lao Khai, a poor village the Kokang call their capital. It used to be surrounded by poppy fields. Now the government says they’ve been replaced by legal cash crops. But it’s an area controlled by Yang Mo Lian, a man international drug agencies still accuse of running a major heroin trafficking business.
His son gives us the official line.
YANG KHU LIANK (okang Leader): Everyone supports the nation’s goal to eradicate opium. But this is not something that can happen overnight. You must also consider what will replace it. At the moment, growing opium is our livelihood. There is little else to replace it.
While the Kokang leaders pay lip service to the SLORC PR line, many of the tribes people don’t.
Man: How come I can’t do it? Poppies are my occupation —my way of life! I know it’s illegal to grow them. I was fined $20. But I still want to grow them. I’m only a small grower.
The Golden Triangle may have an exotic image but the reality is a harsh land. Even when these people grew poppies, life was hard. But while poppies grew well here, the beans and maize crops that have replaced them are repeatedly destroyed by rats.
Woman: Our lives are much harder than before.
Man: What can we grow instead of opium? All other crops get eaten by rats.
Woman: We don’t want to grow poppies — we know it’s not good.
In such conditions it’s little wonder that just a few hours walk over the mountains other members of their tribes still grow opium poppies and refine heroin — and that’s the dilemma. But until there are genuine political reforms the west is unlikely to resume direct aid for anything. And that means Burmese heroin will continue to flow from the Golden Triangle.