Fishermen have found more than half a tonne of suspected crystal meth floating in the sea near the Ayeyarwady delta in sacks labelled for fish food, police have told Myanmar Now.
The bizarre find of around 650 kilograms of ice, as the drug is also known, has a street value of millions of dollars and is one of several major seizures in recent years that underscores the enormity of the narcotics trade in Myanmar.
“As far as I know it’s crystal meth [but] we’ll have to wait for the laboratory results,” said Police Major Than Win Tun.
Fishing boats were plying the waters near Amah in Pyapon township on Wednesday when people onboard noticed the mysterious bundles bobbing in the water.
Local resident Zaw Win, who helped bring the drugs to the police station, said the fishermen had no idea what the substance was when they first opened the sacks.
“They brought them from the sea to their bosses to burn because they thought it was plastic resin,” he told Myanmar Now. “Then when the smoke made them start fainting they reported it to the authorities.”
The sacks had the words “food for fish” written on them in Burmese, while smaller packages inside were marked with the Chinese symbols for “green tea.”
Bobo Min Zaw, a regional MP in Ayeyarwady, said police from the Drug Enforcement Division began their investigation on Wednesday evening.
Police have so far received a total of 23 sacks, most of which contained 30 one-kilogram bags of ice. Local residents said some of the sacks were pierced and contained less than 30 packages.
A recent Reuters investigation delved into the hunt for a China-born Canadian who is the suspected kingpin of a vast meth network that is raking in up to $17 billion a year.
The wholesale price of a kilo of crystal meth produced in northeastern Myanmar is as little as $1,800, according to a UNODC report citing the China National Narcotics Control Commission.
Average retail prices for crystal meth, according to the UN agency, are equivalent to $70,500 per kilo in Thailand, $298,000 per kilo in Australia and $588,000 in Japan.
This puts the retail prices for the fishermen’s haul at about $45,825,000 in Thailand, $193,700,000 in Australia and more than $380 million in Japan.
Officials used loudspeakers Wednesday evening and Thursday morning to warn the residents not to keep any of the drugs if they found more.
Myanmar is believed to be the world’s largest producer of methamphetamines. In March authorities seized over 1,700 kilograms after stopping a boat off the coast of Kawthaung township.
