Biggest drug bust
\n NEW DELHI
\nIndia\u2019s coast guard has seized a Myanmar vessel carrying 5,500 kg of methamphetamine in the Andaman Sea, marking its biggest haul of illegal drugs.
\nThe Myanmar-flagged fishing boat Soe Wai Yan Htoo was spotted by an Indian Coast Guard reconnaissance air patrol in the Andaman Sea on Monday, as it was \u201coperating in a suspicious manner,\u201d the Indian Ministry of Defense said in a statement.
\nOfficers boarded the boat for investigation when it entered Indian territorial waters.
\n\u201cThe six crew onboard the boat were identified as Myanmarese nationals,\u201d the ministry said. \u201cDuring rummaging, the boarding party found approx. 5,500 kgs of prohibited drug methamphetamine.\u201d
\nThe vessel and its crew have been taken for further investigation to an Indian naval base in Sri Vijaya Puram, the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
\n\u201cThe seizure is the largest-ever drug haul by the Indian Coast Guard in maritime history, highlighting the growing threat of transnational maritime narcotics,\u201d the ICG said.
\nThe trafficking of illicit drugs from Myanmar through the Andaman Sea has been on the rise as drug cartels try to evade land controls, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. The UNODC identifies Myanmar\u2019s Shan state as \u201cthe epicenter\u201d of methamphetamine production in the region.
\nShan state is part of the Golden Triangle \u2014 a mountainous area in the northern part of the Mekong River basin, where the borders of Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar meet. The region has long been associated with illegal drug production and was a major source of opium in the 1970s and 1980s. In recent years, it has seen a shift toward the production of synthetic drugs.
\n\u201cMyanmar\u2019s political instability adds to this challenge since many insurgent groups operate between the border regions,\u201d said Dr. Sreeparna Banerjee, associate fellow at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi.
\nShe estimated that some 70 percent of illegal drugs smuggled into India currently enter the country through the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal, with Monday\u2019s haul raising concerns over the scale of criminal networks operating at sea.
\n\u201cWhile this seizure highlights the success of coordinated operations by the ICG and other agencies, it also raises concerns about the gaps traffickers exploit. The use of unregistered vessels and vast stretches of unmonitored waters make the Andaman Sea a challenging zone for law enforcement,\u201d Banerjee told Arab News.
\n\u201cThe size of the haul also indicates the potential involvement of transnational organized crime syndicates, further complicating efforts to dismantle these networks.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Biggest drug bust NEW DELHI India\u2019s coast guard has seized a Myanmar vessel carrying 5,500 kg of methamphetamine in the Andaman Sea, marking its biggest haul of illegal drugs. The Myanmar-flagged fishing boat Soe Wai Yan Htoo was spotted by an Indian Coast Guard reconnaissance air patrol in the Andaman Sea on Monday, as it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":445984,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-445946","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n