MYANMAR COPS MAKE ASIA’S BIGGEST DRUG BUST

Myanmar police have made the biggest drug bust in Asia in decades, seizing hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of contraband including "unprecedented" volumes of methylfentanyl, a chemical used in making a synthetic opioid.

Reporting for CNN on Monday, May 19, 2020, Joshua Berlinger said the illegal drugs were seized after a three-month operation that centered around Lwe Kham village in Kutkhai Township in Myanmar's northeast Shan state and 33 suspects were arrested.

Jeremy Douglas, the regional coordinator for the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC), said the scale of the seizure was "truly off-the-charts." Police seized nearly 200 million methamphetamine tablets, more than 500 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine, and 35.5 metric tons and 163,000 thousand liters of precursor chemicals used to manufacture illicit drugs, Myanmar authorities and the UNODC said in a joint statement.

They also seized nearly 3,750 liters (990 gallons) of liquid methylfentanyl, which is used to make a powerful synthetic opioid like fentanyl. It is believed to be the first time authorities have discovered such a massive amount of fentanyl or one of its analogues in Southeast Asia.