Myanmar police seize massive haul of meth pills
Yangon: Myanmar authorities seized more than 10 million meth pills worth $13.3 million over the weekend, police said Monday, another massive haul in a country widely believed to be the world’s largest methamphetamine producer.
High-grade crystal meth — or ‘ice’ — is smuggled out of Myanmar via sophisticated networks to lucrative developed markets as far away as Japan, South Korea and Australia. Lower-quality pills, cut with caffeine and known in the region as “yaba” or “crazy medicine”, are pumped out to feed the voracious domestic market as well as large drug-addicted communities in nearby Thailand and Bangladesh.
Two different busts took place in the west of the country at the weekend, state-run media said Monday, one in Magway region and one in Maungdaw in Rakhine state. “It’s the biggest drugs seizure this year in the country and the biggest ever in Maungdaw region in Rakhine State,” police colonel Win Ko Ko told AFP.
The pills were likely destined for Bangladesh, where they have become an easy source of income for the Rohingya Muslim refugees who have poured across the border since a 2017 military crackdown.
Most of the drug production, however, takes place on the other side of Myanmar, in conflict-ridden eastern Shan state.
Much of the state lies outside of central control with a complex web of rebel ethnic armed groups and militias wielding power and linking up with trafficking networks. Opium farming is also rife, and Myanmar remains the world’s second largest producer of the drug after Afghanistan.
The poppy-covered hills also provide an ideal location for illicit meth labs, with a largely unchecked supply of precursor chemicals flooding-in from China. (AFP)
Man charged with egg assault on UK opposition leader
London: British police have charged a man after opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn was hit by an egg.
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn was assaulted while visiting a mosque in his London constituency on Sunday.
A man was arrested at the scene after allegedly smacking the egg onto the left-wing politician’s head while shouting “When you vote you get what you vote for.”
The Metropolitan Police force said Monday that 31-year-old John Murphy was charged with assault by beating. He is due to appear in court Tuesday.
Britain’s divisive decision to leave the European Union has raised the temperature in politics, with lawmakers complaining of an increasing level of abuse and threats.
In 2016, Labour lawmaker Jo Cox was stabbed and shot to death by an attacker shouting far-right slogans.(AP)
