Burmese Army extorts money from opium growers

Burmese Army battalions have been extorting sums of money from opium growers in Sadung region in east Kachin State, northern Burma while ostensibly on an opium eradication mission, said Sadung sources.


Sadung happens to be the largest opium-producing region in Kachin State. There was a joint opium elimination operation by Burma’s ruling junta and the Kachin Independence Organization in February and March.


Now, both the operation and the opium harvesting season are over. Yet Burmese troops near Lajawng village near the border town Kambaiti have stayed put and are demanding money from the opium field owners, said Lajawng villagers.

According to Lajawng villagers, two Burmese Army battalions in Waingmaw township--- Waingmaw-based Infantry Battalion No. 58 and Shwe Nyaung Pyin-based Light Infantry Battalion No. 321 are now demanding 50,000 Kyat (US$51) for each opium field in Lajawng area.

Earlier, Burmese troops into the opium eradication operation in Lajawng areas demanded money from growers instead of uprooting opium, said Lajawng villagers.

A KIO officer told Kachin News Group, in the latest joint opium eradication operation they destroyed some opium fields along the major roads and demanded opium tax from other field owners.
Burmese Army sources said troops made money during the two-month opium eradication programme in Sadung region.

On December 14, last year, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reported that opium cultivation in Burma rose in the third straight year, and Kachin and Wa bought weapons from the sale of drugs to prepare to take on the Burmese Army in the event of civil war.

The agency report was rejected by the KIO and United Wa State Army (UWSA), which have refused to toe the junta’s line on the Border Guard Force issue.