Life.Culture.Discovery.

What a viewFrom ‘prince of death’ to ‘playboy drug lord’, the history of the Golden Triangle in HBO’s Traffickers

True-crime documentary series Traffickers: Inside the Golden Triangle profiles three of the drug barons who ruled the lawless area of jungle in Southeast Asia

Also about crime but a complete change of pace, the second series of BBC drama McDonald & Dodds continues the odd-couple detective story with a retro air

2-MIN READ2-MIN

Myanmar drug lord Naw Kham is taken for execution in Kunming, China, for the killing of 13 Chinese sailors in an attack on the Mekong River that spotlighted drug smuggling and extortion rackets along the vital waterway. Photo: AP /Xinhua

Published: 9:45am, 25 Jul 2021Updated: 8:04am, 26 Jul 2021

Looking for a career change and entry into a pandemic-proof business? The answer may lie in your own backyard, but be warned: places in the pecking order are defended robustly and the really big money never trickles down.

According to the makers of true-crime drugs documentary Traffickers: Inside the Golden Triangle, business has seldom been better. Far from making a dent in profits, Covid-19 has helped pay dividends to people invested in narcotics in the region bordering Thailand, Laos and Myanmar. A three-part investigation now available on streaming platform HBO Go, Traffickers moves from the late 1960s to almost the present in exposing the power, influence and prestige once enjoyed by three of the most notorious drug barons.

From the jungles and mountains of Myanmar’s Shan State, where “prince of death” Khun Sa ran a “revolutionary army” to control the production of opium; to Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, scene of the media-circus apprehension of Laotian “playboy drug lord” Xaysana Xkeopimpha in 2017; via the Mekong River and the massacre of 13 crew aboard two Chinese boats in 2011, the series offers a grim assessment of drugs’ knock-on effects. Such effects seem to go unnoticed by a few apologists, such as the smiling Buddhist monk who describes one callous criminal as “a Robin Hood”.

Though the drugs may change – crystal meth has long superseded opium as the Golden Triangle’s greatest cash cow – and one ruthless kingpin’s reign of terror gives way to the next, there is “no end in sight”, says one ex-DEA agent. Because if there is demand, there will always be supply.

Laotian lord baron Xaysana Xkeopimpha in Traffickers. Photo: HBO Go

Fine pairing

They might be far from some of Asia’s most perilous coordinates, but what is it about Britain’s most picturesque cities that inspires devious foul play?