BY AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

BANGKOK, Thailand -Seizures of methamphetamine in East and Southeast Asia were at record highs last year, a UN agency said Wednesday, with a “combination of conflict and stability” in Myanmar driving illicit drug production.

Seizures of methamphetamine across the region totaled 236 tons in 2024, marking an “exponential” increase of 24 percent compared to 2023, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in a statement citing a new report.

The number represents “only the amount seized, and just so much methamphetamine is actually reaching the market”, Benedikt Hofmann, UNODC acting representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific region, said in the statement.

The largest quantities of methamphetamine seized in the region were recorded in Thailand, the biggest destination and transit hub for the synthetic drug.

In neighboring Myanmar, a “degree of stability” in areas of the country known for large-scale synthetic drug production combined with an ongoing crisis following a 2021 military coup had driven the “unprecedented” growth, Hofmann said.

The spread of ketamine production sites to most of the lower Mekong countries showed the agility of transnational drug trafficking groups in evading law enforcement, UNODC said in the statement.

“The trafficking route connecting Cambodia with Myanmar, primarily through Lao PDR, has been rapidly expanding,” said Inshik Sim, lead analyst at the UNODC regional office, adding that maritime routes linking Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines had become another significant trafficking corridor.