Asian Defense News: BANGKOK – Opium cultivation in Myanmar is increasing rapidly in areas under the control of the military government, an ethnic minority organization said Tuesday.Myanmar is the world's second-biggest producer of opium, which is the main ingredient in heroin, though it trails Afghanistan by a large margin. The ruling junta has vowed to eliminate the drug.
However, opium cultivation in Shan State the major production area has tripled in certain areas over the past three years in Myanmar, also known as Burma, according to a report by the Palaung Women's Organization. The Palaung are an ethnic minority in the northern state.
Researchers found cultivation in two townships under government control rose from 2,380 acres (964 hectares) in 2007 to 11,230 acres (4,545 hectares) in 2009.
"The number of villages growing opium has tripled from 2006 to 2009," Lway Aye Nang, an executive committee member for the organization, said at a news conference Tuesday in Bangkok.
The areas had been under the authority of the rebel Palaung State Liberation Army, but the insurgent group ceded control in 2005 after laying down its arms.
Soldiers, local officials and pro-government militiamen were profiting by extorting opium farmers, said Palaung researcher Lway Dang Jar. The report said drug addiction in the area was increasing with "devastating" impact.
Critics of the military regime have accused it of abetting or turning a blind eye to the illicit drug trade.
Myanmar officials were not immediately available for comment.
A United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime survey of opium poppy in Myanmar released in December 2009 found cultivation increased to a total of 78,330 acres(31,700 hectares) throughout the country, an 11 per cent rise from 2008.
The U.N. agency would not immediately respond to a request for comment.
*AP - 2 hours 53 minutes ago
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