Asian drug lords likely producing precursor chemicals in Golden Triangle
- The Golden Triangle – an area that centres on northeast Myanmar but includes parts of Thailand and Laos – was for years a main opium-growing region
- Recently Golden Triangle production has boomed in amphetamine-type stimulants, especially methamphetamine
Crime syndicates in Asia’s drug-producing Golden Triangle region have likely begun producing ingredients to manufacture methamphetamine, enabling them to avoid restrictions on importing precursors such as pseudoephedrine and ephedrine.
The development shows a new level of sophistication by drug syndicates as “pre-precursors” such as propionyl chloride are far less tightly regulated and easier to obtain.
“It is increasingly clear organised crime are using pre-precursors and have particularly impressive capacities in place to produce their own precursors – something nobody understood until recently,” said Jeremy Douglas, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) regional representative for Southeast Asia.
The Golden Triangle – an area that centres on northeast Myanmar but includes parts of Thailand and Laos – was for years a main opium-growing region, with Asian crime groups forming alliances with ethnic minority militias who control parts of the area, especially in Myanmar.
But more recently, production has boomed in amphetamine-type stimulants, especially methamphetamine, or meth as it is known, with the amount coming out of the Golden Triangle rising rapidly for a decade.
Authorities in Asia seizing a record 139 tonnes of meth in 2019, up from 127 tonnes in 2018 and 82.5 tonnes in 2017, UNODC data showed.