“Burma’s Drug Menace�

My dear boss Bo Tayza e-mailed and ordered me to follow him to the meeting with POPE John Paul II, the Chairman of Paradise (Nat Pye) Burma Action Committee. Note: the e-mail system here at heaven is actually angel’s special e-mail system and is much advanced, sophisticated and could not compare with your earthen primitive e-mail system. But actually the basic working system is almost the same. All the angels’ ‘brain’ are interconnected like internet or intranet. We could just send the message immediately to any other angle or to God instantly. Like your e-mail, SMS, MMS, voice message, pager, radio, TV, telephone, fax machine and video conferencing services all incorporated into the one advanced system. Actually God had sent one of the angels to give those ideas to your mankind in piecemeal. So do not be proud too much for your progress in Science Technology and ignore or forget to thank God.

At the meeting POPE John Paul II told us that he died worrying about the world because it seemed dominated by the powers of evil, and he had even prepared a sermon for the day after his death. He said he didn’t expect at all that he could actually deliver his own sermon to us today. Although he was the leader of the Christians, Pope was then a mere mortal human being and could not foresee what will happen after death.

He thanked God because God is really greater, more merciful, and fairer than he thought. He had tried for the mutual understanding, tolerance, and cooperation for the better and more peaceful world. He and extended his hand to work with all the different religious groups and people of different ideologies including communists but there was no much progress.  He is happy that now in the heaven God had accepted all the good people irrespective of their religion, race, origin etc.

He said: "To humanity, which at times seems lost and dominated by the powers of evil, by selfishness and fear, the risen Lord offers the gift of his love which forgives, reconciles and opens up the spirit to hope".

He continued “The root of almost half of the problems is drugs, opium, cocaine, morphine, No. four Heroin, Amphetamine, Ecstasy and all the stimulants. Drug addicts not only leads to personal problems to him self but to the spouse, family, society, nation and the whole world. Our efforts of cutting off the branches or even the trunks are proved to be ineffective. We need to dig off the roots.”

He concluded, “ Myanmar country and its rulers SPDC Generals are found out not only to be the root causes of this world’s drug menace but also many of the racial and religious conflicts leading to socioeconomic problems in Myanmar, in its neighbours and around the world. And the consequent Refugee problem also affected many countries.

In the Nat Pye (Paradise) Burma Action Committee there are a lot of religious leaders from almost all the religions. Many Buddhist Monks and Abbots, Christian Fathers and pastors, Muslim Religious leaders and Imams, few Jew leaders and Rabbis could be seen. But most of those religious leaders have some interest in Burma but are not very eager to work actively even now. They wish to just use their time praying to God. Naturally ex-politicians have very actively participated in the discussions after all they would be politicians forever. I was surprised and proud that there are a lot of very famous persons showing their concern about Myanmar/Burma’s present and future.

Sir Winston (Leonard Spencer) Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the Second World War, still fondly talk about Burma as if it was his own mother country. Ex-President of wartime USA (Franklin Delano) Roosevelt, Clement Richard Attlee (the UK ex-PM who approved the independence of Burma, and (Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas) Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma are also very fond of Burma and talk nice things of our country.

All of them were angry with their present Western Governments, USA, UK and EU for failing to act actively, forcefully, quickly and decisively to save the Burmese people from the tyrant Military Junta. They believed that this is not only benificial for the people but protecting their western countries from the menaces of drg related medico-social problems.

Mahatma Gandhi still remembers the Burma’s Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League (AFPFL) leaders he worked together. He congratulated General Aung San for his daughter’s success in uniting the whole populace of Burma and strongly supported her nonviolent peaceful means of struggle. 

I was surprised by the presence of the ex President of Egypt (Mohamed) Anwar Sadat and former Israel PM Menachem (Wolfovitch) Begin at the meating. They were the Noble peace prize winners and are here to support their fellow Noble Prize winner Daw Aung San Su Kyi’s country. They could be seen together every where in the heaven as the best friends and they jointly congratulated my boss General Aung San for his daughter’s efforts. Actually they also have a strong opinion of Burma/Myanmars drug problem disturbing the peace and stability of the world. 

Burma’s democratically elected ex-PM U Nu, Burma’s first President Sao Shwe Theik (Agga Maha Thray Sithu Agga Maha Thiri Thudhamma, Saopha of Yaunghwe)  also joined all the above mentioned persons as CECmembers. 

Bogyoke Aung San is the chairmen of the investigation team. Maingpon Sawbwagyi Sai San Tun is the deputy chairman of the team. General Aung San thanks all the above great leaders for loving and care for his country. He said he is surprised they still care about Burma. He especially thanks Nehru for his gift of a long coat, when they met in India on his way to England for Burma’s independence negotiations.  

Nehru told my boss that he was most handsome with that long coat, his gift, and congratulated for his daughter, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s success. He joked that those present SPDC leaders, Poke Thoe, Yoke Soe and Nga Moo (Yoke Soe meaning ugly person is General Than Shwe and Nga Moo is a drunkard General Maung Aye but forgot that Poke Thoe frown face, General Khin Nyunt was already removed. ) were all so ugly that they all became jealous of very handsome General Aung San’s pictures and removed them from every where. 

But he continued with the tears in his eyes and reassured Bogyoke not to worry about Daw Suu. His words choked when he continued that he thought it is a blessing in disguise from God that Bogyoke could not live long to rule the country and could not give ‘the Aung San dynasty’ as a gift to his daughter. He told all of us that although General Aung San is in heaven for along time but for him, that day is his first or fresher day in heaven and his daughter and grandchildren would be able to follow him much later only. He confirmed that ‘Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely’. He even continue in Burmese, ‘Ah Soeya, A sa bae’ yoe thee’ means all the governments are sincere and honest at first only. (I was shocked to hear our beloved Burmese language was spoken by an Indian leader but immediately realized that we, angels could speak all the languages.) 

Although a devout Hindi, he continued that now only he understood why Lord Buddha was scared and tried many times in his reincarnations from becoming king. He supported that Buddha was right to scare judging even the criminals and knew he had to pay sometime in his life circle if he wrongly punished an innocent person. That Indian even tried to preach the present SPDC Generals to repent as they had took or rob the power that is not theirs and also committing endless sins. (I suddenly remember our Burmese saying, ‘Kala ka_ kamawar phat thee’. He even proposed that once there is democracy in Burma or any country, the head of the state should not be allowed to stay for more than two terms to avoid corruption, abuse of power to hang on the post forever. 

Saya Gyi U Razak, Thakin Mya, U Ba Win, Mahn Ba Khine, U Ba Cho are in the investigation team. 

U Ohn Maung (Secretary) and (bodyguard) Ko Htwe are also in the team to record and coordinate the investigations. 

See, my General is still very close to his comrades, old cabinet members, martyred or assassinated together on the 19th of July 1947.  And I, Maha Bandula am the secretary and investigator of the team because I am his most trusted person.  

Bogyoke Aung San said that the mandate given by the Paradise (Nat Pye) Burma Action Committee to our investigation team is to find out the following facts: 

1.         Why the Myanmar’s drug menace is impossible to eradicate?

2.         Why the affect of the Myanmar’s drug menace is spreading like wild fire through out the whole world.

3.         What are those effects of Myanmar drugs on other countries around the country?

4.         What the SPDC leaders and their soldiers are doing with all the drugs? 

All the CEC members and Investigation team would stay and monitor our investigation from this meeting room and I have to go down to earth with U Ohn Maung and Ko Htwe. 

Then I made a special request to allow me to put my personal assistant, Ko Tun Aung Kyaw as the active investigation member. I personally proposed him because he was killed because of the consequence of his anti opium campaign. He was a Karate (black belt) instructor from Mandalay. While he was an ABSDF (Upper Burma) leader after 8888 revolution, they have to run to the north and stayed under KIA’s protection. As most of them were just naive students, they naively wanted to be active with some activities. They saw the poppy growing and poppy trading activities there. As progressive youngsters they knew the danger and consequences of the addiction without understanding that some powerful KIA leaders are behind that scene.  

Powerful Myanmar Military Intelligent knew the danger of the combined power of students and rebels and started the propaganda or Psychological warfare. Myanmar MIs tried to put the wedge between the students and KIA by publishing in their ‘Myet Khin Thit’ or new grazing grass-land that there are MI spies in the ABSDF. Then the KIA conveniently pretend to ‘BELIEVE’ that MI magazine and advised their Kachin students from Mo Hnyin to stage a coup, arrested a hundred of students from upper Burma, tortured and killed about 50 of them. Tun Aung Kyaw was cruelly killed. But Tun Aung Kyaw told me that he forgave both ABSDF and KIA and tried to forget the incidence. He just told me to remind all the opposition persons and groups not to have a shallow mind and commit the same mistakes without thinking or proper investigations and not to easily believe the MI propagandas and fight among themselves. 

So this is why I have to make an almost U turn to your earth after last week’s investigation of ‘the regime soldiers are going to hell’ problem. 

Once on earth I tried to investigate or interview the persons involved in drug growing, production, drug traders or smugglers, enforcement authorities of Myanmar, Thailand, China and the West who are suffering the ill affects of drugs. 

Chinese Communists Authorities are reluctant to meet a foreign ‘reporter/researcher’, my secret identity.  

As the preliminary studies, we went to hell as a fact finding mission and interviewed the ex-Military leaders, MI leaders of Myanmar. 

General Ne Win admitted that he had protected Law Sit Han and accepted half of his properties as protection money. But he insisted that the present Myanmar Military leaders, Senior General Than Shwe, General Khin Nyunt, Vice Senior General Maung Aye, Shwe Man, Soe Win and cohorts are hundred of times worse than him. He called the recently arrived ex MIs who were killed in the detention after Khin Nyunt was removed and shouted to tell the truth.  

Those ex-Myanmar MIs told us that, Khun Sar, Law Sit Han, Li Min Cheng, Phone Kyar Shin and Kauk Nyi Kaing had paid billions of USD to Than Shwe and their old MI boss Khin Nyunt. Li Min Cheng ( Lee Meng Xiang ) was purely a Chinese from main land China. He was married to Phone Kyar Shin`s daughter. He collaborates both with Khun Sa, SLORC and SPDC. He is now recognized by SLORC, and SPDC as a local leader, representing the area near Keng Tung. He earned a lot of profits from narcotic business. He even stores opium in huge warehouses. They are the heir of the once Gen Li Wenhuan of the Kuomintang's Third Army, dubbed the 'Mr Big of Opium'. When Li was pressured by the United States through the Thai government in 1972 to abandon his business, he simply instructed his units to merge their identity with their local allies.

Later Law Sit Han (Law Hsinghan) 'The King of Opium' and 'Asia's most wanted criminal', was arrested. But actually Law's army broke and the show goes on as usually with different actors. Shan United Army of Khun Sa continued the opium trade.

Ex-Myanmar MIs even admitted that before the Was made peace agreement, Was have to operate their labs in the deep forests but after the agreement and paid the protection money Was are allowed to process or manufacture their opium products in the towns. 

And we talked to the SPDC soldiers and law enforcement officers in the hell and on the earth. They admitted that they used to take the ‘toll fees’ or ‘gate fees’, closed their eyes and allowed the traffickers to pass their gates. Sometimes they took money, i.e. carry fees, to transport the drugs, which means directly involved in trafficking.  

I am shocked to hear from the SPDC soldiers that they are using stimulant drugs before going on rampaging in ethnic areas. And these things are done by the order of their superior officers. My deputy Tun Aung Kyaw was so angry, lost control of himself and give a Karate kick to the SPDC soldier’s neck. Lucky that we are angels and I have to revive that soldier and give the dose of retrograde amnesia to forget what had happened to him during the investigation. And I had to give Tun Aung Kyaw the first and last waning, not to repeat the same mistake again. I understand that this is his very first mission to the earth and he became very emotional because of lack of experience hearing the atrocities of the SPDC soldiers. 

But the e-mail massage from Bo Taza arrived, inhibiting Tun Aung Kyaw’s active involvement in any investigations and I, Maha Bandula have to dance a solo dances or “Ta pin tine ah ka’. U Ohn Maung has to take over and also have to record all the proceedings as a Secretary. And Tun Aung Kyaw is demoted to our fact finding mission’s security or assist the bodyguard Ko Htwe. (Although we are angels, or real heavenly Nats, we need security protection as the SPDC are using all the Yata Ya using astrologers, Burmese Voodoo men ‘Auk lan sayas’ and earthy nats to protect themselves. 

Many SPDC soldiers admit that if they found lonely or a small group of drug trafficker or normal smugglers in the remote jungle tracks, they used to rob them and usually killed all of them to cover-up their crimes. They usually take the money, sell back the drugs and keep some for self use because their superiors supply them with free stimulants only when there are operations in the ethnic minority areas. They all are already addicted to the stimulants and need continuous supply of drugs. Their salaries are just enough for them and are even not enough for the families back home. So they have no choice but to rob the smugglers and villagers. They had given the excuse that although they were given enough stimulants during the operations, their food ration is not enough for their survival and they had to rob the chicken, ducks, pigs and cattle from each and every village they entered. As for the raping of the ethnic minority women and girls, they claimed that they are not very responsible because naturally they are human beings only, away from the family, under the influence of drugs given by the superiors. And they were ordered to dilute the blood of those proud ethnic races that wish to get independence and are trying to merger with their ethnic related foreign countries. Once they are empowered with guns, ammunition combined with the influence of stimulants they are sure to commit all kind of unthinkable crimes against humanity on their own innocent powerless citizens.

As they are sure of immunity from any punishment and they had already got the tactic approval or even sometimes ordered by their superior officers, no wonder, their lust would lead to commit all these crimes. 

U Ohn Maung and Ko Htwe whispered me with disbelieve that they are even shy to record those atrocities and show our boss General Aung San as he is always proud of his Bama Tatmadaw he formed or established. His eyes always bright up and a satisfactory facial gesture could be always seen every time when my boss mentioned his army and his children i.e. soldiers. I told them not to worry too much because our boss Bo Tayza already knew about all these and he was the person who ordered our two probes here, first in time for the 27th March REVOLUTION DAY and the current mission. And he is the one who tactically allowed to leak these reports to the Burma Digest so that those lucky enough soldiers and officers of the Myanmar Military to get “Ah Myin Hman” or redemption could switch sides or release all opposition members and to really start the democratization and reconciliatory process but not eyewash they are practicing now.  

We are not authorized to reveal all the details, transcripts and particulars of the Myanmar soldiers, Mi agents, poppy growers, heroin and amphetamine producers, and drug traffickers etc because of their safety from the revenge by the SPDC authorities. We are glad to be able to reveal the names of the foreigners we interviewed and the most important witness or criminal ex-Myanmar Military Intelligence General Khin Nyunt. 

We also interviewed some drug kingpins/traffickers. They revealed that they have to pay about half of their earnings to General Khin Nyunt and Senior General Than Shwe. They also understand that they have to grease the hands of local authorities, local Military and MI commanders and have to donate generously to various SPDC affiliated organizations like Kyant Phut and Maternal and Child Health organization etc. They were given free hand or green light to even set up the mini-labs in their towns. The general order of the day is that their traffic must be one way from the place they were produce towards the border. If they headed towards the interior of Myanmar they risked arrest but they have their own way to deal with this also. If bribed enough, money could change the red drug traffic lights into green. They sometimes paid army trucks or even the convoys to transport drugs. Money could do any thing, very powerful. Drug traffickers even gloated or brag or boasted that the regional military commanders and even the SPDC leaders come and go but money could buy and put all of them into their pockets.  

We all feel bad of our country’s deteriorating condition and know that our country’s future is at the edge of a deep gorge. 

We went to see ex-MI chief General Khin Nyunt. As he is still under house arrest, all of us made ourselves invisible and went into his bed room when all others fall asleep.  He saw me only but is quite scared of every one. He thought I am another investigator sent by General Than Shwe and was so scared and starts crying and apologizing incessantly. He asked me to have some sympathy and offered some bribes hidden somewhere. (He unknowingly collected one more sin of bribing and angel investigator.) When I refused and asked him to just answer me, he said he had some secret bank accounts in foreign countries and offer me more bribes. Then I noticed some strange smell, and U Ohn Maung whispered to me that our great MI General is so scared that he had passed urine into his trousers. I reassured him that we are not what he think and are not going to harm but just want to ask some questions. I ordered him to change his trousers and to follow us into the library. But General Khin Nyunt tremble with fear, became hysteric, screamed and passed shits into his trousers comparing with their own MI’s ways of arresting the person to torture by just asking to follow them.  

Daw Khin Win Shwe and the securities rushed into the room. Because they could not see us, she scolded her husband for the regular ‘nightmares’, disturbing their sleep frequently. She shouted to him to pray before sleep, to meditate and if too scared to wear her ‘htami’ or sarong. I pitied the old general. (He is really looked much older than his pictures not long ago) We sent back all of them into deep sleep using the special powers of angels. I am shy about the old MI General, who had tormented and tortured the numerous innocent opposition members but could not bear them when he is at the receiving end.  

I have to give him a dose of angel tranquilizer so that he would be out of the fear, fright and panic and answer rationally. Now he realized that I am not another butcher Myanmar Military interrogator to hurt him and squeeze out more secret information. Once I told him that I was sent by General Aung San, he start praising Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s courage and sacrifices for the country. He bluffed me how much he loved and took care of her as his own sister. And started to persuade me to help his release and took over the power. He promised me to let him just stay with dignity at the helm as president or the king and agreed to appoint Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as the all powerful Prime Minister. We wonder why he never thought about this before. Now the game is over! Be careful Senior General Than Shwe and cohort SPDC Generals, repent before it is too late: before the Heaven’s gates are closed. Once you are in hell, there is no redemption or sorry, you have to pay your due fully according to the amount and extent of your sins!  

When we asked him about the SPDC Generals’ dealing with drug kingpins, he showed us the cemented room below his library from where Than Shwe’s men took his second copies of the files. He told us that the first copy which was hidden in his office’s underground chamber was also taken. He told us that the whole of his underground room was filled with cements and he had no access to his third files hidden in to another secret room below that. Anyway we all go into that room and asked him to search and read the files for us. His files just confirmed what we already know. 

Most of the SPDC Government’s budget is supported by drug money. But they used one third only to fill up the budget but two thirds went into their own pockets. One third that went into the budget officially was also used mainly for the defense budget. And half of that anyway went into the SPDC officers pockets as kickbacks from the arm dealers like Nga Tayza and others. (I had already explained why I chose to call him like this in my first investigation report.) 

According to his files, all the Wa leaders, some Shan rebels and some Kachin rebels also involve in opium production, processing trafficking, Heroin No. 4, Amphetamine and other stimulants production and they used to pay protection money and share the profits with SPDC leaders. 

General Khin Nyunt confirmed that SPDC soldiers are given stimulant drugs before going on operations in to the ethnic minority areas so that they could do all the atrocities without fear or mercy. The soldiers were encouraged to rape, torture, rob, loot and to destroy the villages and to burn them called ‘overturning the earth system.’ 

He conform that the SPDC soldiers need drugs especially to do the merciless ethnic cleansing. Most of the young soldiers are inexperience and to dispel their fear and sympathy, SPDC local commanders have to use stimulants. 

Suddenly Tun Aung Kyaw appeared with his files in front of Khin Nyunt and shouted that now he got the proof of SPDC MI and some Kachin rebel leader’s plot of trapping him to remove as he was the obstacle in their gold mine of drug trade. He was RTUed (return to unit) with immediate effect, sent back to heaven (Nat Pye) and given desk duty only. I saw the understanding and forgiving smile of Bo Tayza for my mistake of using the inexperienced student leader for our important mission. 

Then we went to the Thai side of the golden triangle. We accidentally met the Australian Embassy official attached for drug trafficking investigations.  

He told us, “Historically, Australia has been the target for Asian-based criminal groups trafficking in heroin. This trend is continuing and many of these organizations are also involved in the trafficking of methamphetamines into Australia. The primary source for heroin in Australia continues to be the Golden Triangle area of Laos, Burma and Thailand.”

Francois Casanier, research analyst with Geopolitical Drug watch in Paris told us, "All normal economic activities, if you can call anything in Burma normal, are instruments of drug money laundering. And no drug operation in Burma can be run without the SLORC and SPDC’s involvement."

Casanier continued, “After a four year investigation, Burma's national company Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) was "the main channel for laundering the revenues of heroin produced and exported under the control of the Burmese army."

Casanier concludes, "Drug money is irrigating every economic activity in Burma, and big foreign partners are seen by the SLORC/SPDC as big shields for money laundering."

One IMF official supported him and told us, “One indication that the Burmese government’s benefits from drug trade directly comes from an IMF study which found large expenditures unaccounted for — despite the fact that foreign exchange reserves for 1991 through 1993 were only approximately $300 million, the SLORC purchased arms valued at $1.2 billion during the period.”

Bertil Lintner, a noted authority on Burma's drug trade, says there is a private banking boom in Rangoon based on the influx of narco-dollars. Even more revealing was the  "surrender" of Khun Sa, the world's most wanted heroin smuggler, in Rangoon where the SLORC/SPDC welcomed him and his associates as "our own blood brethren." Months later, the government gave him a commercial bus concession from Rangoon into Shan State, home base of his drug empire. "Khun Sa's 'surrender' has brought the last warlord out of the jungles and into Rangoon where he, like everybody else these days, can continue his business," observes Lintner.

Madeleine Albright condemned Burma's human rights abuses as Orwellian. What has yet to come under close scrutiny is the role of narcotics in creating and sustaining the Burmese dictatorship. Many researchers of global drugs fear that the payoff — whether in terms of stability in the region or individual bank accounts — may have become just too great.

Winston Lord, the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific, denounced the SLORC/SPDC's new partnership with Khun Sa as a "defeat for the control of drugs in all our countries." The fact remains, however, that U.S. policy makers have largely accepted the new alliance between Burma's military dictatorship and its drug lords as the necessary price to pay for stabilizing civil conflicts in the region.

We met Prem Tinsulanond, Privy councilor and former prime minister of Thiland. He had also expressed concern about the prospect that there was no end to the methamphetamine invasion, and apparently favors retaining Task Force 399 as the frontline defense against unwelcome imports from the Wa drug lords. 

Then we go and see Kraisak, chairman of the Thai Senate's Foreign Relations Committee, who is a strong critic of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's policy shift toward closer engagement and the avoidance of any confrontation with Yangon and its drug-trafficking ally the United Wa State Army (UWSA). 

“The softly-softly approach with the prickly Myanmese generals appears to be at odds with the latest Thai intelligence reports predicting a flood of methamphetamine pills swamping the Thai market this year. While Thaksin stresses the importance of friendly diplomatic relations with Yangon, up to a billion yaba ("crazy medicine", as the Thais refer to speed) tablets from the UWSA-controlled drug laboratories inside Myanmar's Shan are expected to be smuggled across the border this year. Thailand already has an estimated 250,000 addicts and is now facing an epidemic of yaba addiction. 

Thailand's northern military command has classified the nation's top security threat as the drug operations across the border masterminded by ethnic Wa and Chinese, who in recent years have seized control over most of the Shan territory of eastern Myanmar.  

About half of the Wa army is used by the Myanmese army as a border security force along much of the 850-kilometer frontier with Thailand. Shan sources estimate the Wa control 80 percent of the opium-heroin trade and all the methamphetamine laboratories, which produce the easy-to-smuggle pills.  

 Wa drug baron Wei Hsueh Kang is wanted both in Thailand and the United States for drug trafficking. The US State Department has put a US$2 million reward on his head.  

Senator Kraisak continued that the power of the Myanmar generals has long been closely wedded to the Wa-Chinese narco-economy, estimated to be worth more than $550 million a year, and that without these narco-profits fueling banks and business in Yangon, the economy would have collapsed long ago. Wa investments include the Myanmar Mayflower Group, the Hong Pang corporation (directly linked to heroin trafficker Wei Hsueh Kang), and Yangon Airways.  

The evidence points to an expanding Wa drug empire. New drug laboratories have sprung up at Myawaddy in the west where they can pump pills into central Thailand, by the banks of the Mekong, and also in Kachin state, which extends the yaba plague to both Laos and India.  

Then we talk to the US Embassy official attached to fight drug trafficking.  

He told us,“Burma's first drug warlords were these Kuomintang Chinese generals, arming and training to 'retake' China. The drug business then passed into the hands of the tribal warlords like Khun Sha. This is a high growth business and the military regime derives 'taxes' from it by allowing safe havens for their manufacture.

Khun Sha now runs his business from Rangoon. Drugs are Burma's principal export. Today Burma produces 84% of the opium in Southeast Asia and most of it in Shan state where the warlord Khun Sha's Mong Tai Army now calls the shots. Burma also produced 800 million metha-amphetamine tablets. Most of the drugs produced in what has now come to be called the Golden Triangle ends up in the US, where its main consumers are the black underclass.

By all reports, it has more than doubled its illicit drug exports since the SLORC/SPDC takeover in 1988. The United States Embassy in the capital city Rangoon reports that the area used for poppy cultivation in Burma increased by two-thirds between 1987 and 1990. At a United Nations Drug Control Program (U.N.D.C.P.) regional conference in November 1993, French and U.S. satellite surveys showed an explosion of poppy growing in areas directly under SLORC control. U.S. State Department reported that Burma now provides more than 50 percent of the world's supply.

This booming heroin trade has sent a flood of narco-dollars into Rangoon. US State Department report points out that the country's "undeveloped banking system and lack of enforcement against money laundering have created a business and investment environment conducive to the use of drug-related proceeds in legitimate commerce."

Drug money is actually solicited by Burma's state-controlled banks. The national bank in Rangoon openly provides money-laundering services, turning drug money into clean money for a 40 percent cut. Occasionally official announcements run in the state controlled press promoting specials at a reduced charge of 25 percent, no questions asked. The catalyst for turning Burma's economy into Heroin International Inc. was the cease-fire agreements SLORC/SPDC signed with 15 ethnic minorities over a period of five years. On the one hand, the agreements ended a civil war that could have festered on, eventually threatening the economic vitality of East Asia. On the other, it created a veritable partnership between SLORC/SPDC and Burma's powerful drug traffickers from ethnic minority regions.

Just how intimate this relationship now is was revealed a year ago during the wedding celebration of the son of legendary drug lord Lo Hsing Han, who as of 1994 controlled the most heavily armed drug trafficking organization in Southeast Asia. The family's honored guests included four SLORC ministers and four Cabinet ministers.

All over Burma, meanwhile, rural communities are succumbing to the supplies of cheap heroin that now flow freely in their villages. In Rangoon and Mandalay, Burma's second largest city, heroin use is assuming epidemic proportions. Meanwhile, according to Michael Jala Maran, executive director of the Pan Kachin Development Society, who recently visited the remote Kachin State, needle sharing, a proliferation of brothels, a dearth of public education and virtually no medical care have created an explosion in the number of AIDS cases in that region.

We accidentally met Andrew Marshall who wrote ‘The Trouser People’,  a story of Burma in the shadow of the Empire (A New York Times Notable Book) but what he say is just supporting the facts we already knew, so we just omitted the facts as it may be just repeating the same things.

Then we asked an appointment to hear directly from the Dr Condoleezza Rice, US Secretary of State.  Surprisingly our request for appointment was immediately granted. We understand that time is precious for her and we immediately started our investigation disguised as an interview.

QUESTION: Madame Secretary, thank you for allowing us with the special interview with a very short notice.

SECRETARY RICE: My pleasure. Great to be with you, all the Burmese.

QUESTION: Thank you very much for joining us, Madame Secretary, and good luck to you. Do you notice that your President had also kindly granted audience to one Burmese Ethnic Minority girl?

SECRETARY RICE: Thank you. Yes of course our US Government is supporting all the Burmese opposition. I just ignored the protocol and cancelled my appointment to see visiting FM of Russia, asked my assistant to replace me and granted your urgent request. Don’t worry; we all are here to give the Burmese people with all the possible supports.

I had just urged China and India to put more pressure on Burma’s military junta over their poor human rights record. Countries in the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) should do more to push for freedom in their fellow member, Burma. And we need China to be more active on this front … and India as well. We regarded Burma as one of the worst regimes in the world. I brought up Burma at every meeting I had with officials from China and India, and President George W. Bush did the same. We have to continue to encourage countries in the region and EU to take an active and more public line on Burma. Our country, the United States has imposed wide-ranging sanctions on Burma, including a ban on most imports, and they would not be relaxed until the Burmese government changed its ways.

QUESTION: Thank you and your government for the great support for Burma. We are here today to enquire about the Burmese Drug Menace and its effects on USA and the whole world.

SECRETARY RICE: The international community has continued to combat the drug trade and the activities financed by drugs: terrorism and transnational crime.

In the United States, we lose over 20,000 Americans a year to drug-induced deaths. The United Nations adopted a resolution to "significantly reduce both the supply and demand for drugs by 2008." No country now says that drugs are somebody else's problem.

Burma is the world’s second largest producer of illicit opium, accounting for more than 90 percent of Southeast Asian heroin. Burma is also a primary source of amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) in Asia. Burma’s opium poppy is grown predominantly in the "Golden Triangle" border region of Shan State in areas near the borders of China, Laos, and Thailand that are controlled by former insurgent groups.

Cultivation by ethnic Wa hill tribesmen along the Chinese border accounts for 40 percent of Burma’s total poppy crop. We noticed resurgence in poppy cultivation in southern and eastern Shan State. Nonetheless, major Wa traffickers continue to operate with impunity and the Burmese government has been unable or unwilling to curb drug activities conducted by the United Wa State Political Leadership (UWSP) a criminal group controlling the United Wa State Army (UWSA), which is primarily responsible for criminal activities such as heroin/ATS production in Wa territories. The UWSA’s involvement in methamphetamine production and trafficking remain serious concerns for us. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York unsealed federal indictments against seven UWSA leaders for conspiracy to possess, manufacture, or distribute heroin and methamphetamine.

The USG (United States Government) determined that Burma was one of only two countries in the world (the other was Venezuela) that had "failed demonstrably" to meet international counter narcotics obligations.

According to the UNODC, a persistent and strong demand in Asia for opiates and a falling supply in the Golden Triangle region led to a 22 percent increase in Burmese village-level opium prices. Opium price increases, however, did little to alleviate the poverty of poppy farmers, who are among the most impoverished populations in Burma.

According to an annual U.S. opium yield estimate, in 2005 the total land area under poppy cultivation was 40,000 hectares (ha), an 11 percent increase over the previous year. Estimated opium production in Burma totaled approximately 380 metric tons in 2005, a 14 percent increase over 2004.

QUESTION: Madame Secretary, could you kindly reveal any reports about Burma’s Stimulant Drugs production?

SECRETARY RICE: There is a sharp increase in the production and export of synthetic drugs from Burma. Burma plays a leading role in the regional traffic of ATS. Drug gangs, many of which are ethnic Chinese, based in the Burma/China and Burma/Thailand border areas annually produce several hundred million methamphetamine tablets for markets in Thailand, China, and India using precursors imported from China and India.

According to GOB (Government of Burma) figures, during the first eleven months of 2005, ATS seizures totaled about 1.65 million tablets, a significant decrease from previous years. Authorities, however, seized over 280 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine ("Ice"). Aside from these important seizures, the government did not destroy any ATS labs in 2005 or take any other significant steps to stop ATS production and trafficking. The GOB has, however, stepped up its dialogue with law enforcement agencies and neighboring countries on the overall ATS problem.

Opium, heroin, and ATS are produced predominantly in the border regions of Shan State, areas controlled by former insurgent groups. Between 1989 and 1997, the Burmese government negotiated a series of individual cease-fire agreements, allowing each of several ethnically distinct people’s limited autonomy and continued narcotics production and trafficking activities in return for peace.

The Wa tribal group, however, remain the country’s leading poppy growers and opium producers. According to many reports, the UWSP leadership facilitates the manufacture and trafficking of ATS pills in Wa territory, predominantly by ethnic Chinese criminal gangs.

Burma has a small, but growing domestic drug abuse problem. UNODC estimated there are roughly 20,000 opium addicts in Shan State, the country’s largest poppy growing region. Surveys conducted by UNODC, among others, suggest that the overall drug addict population could be as high as 300,000, plus an additional 15,000 regular ATS users.

In January, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York unsealed federal indictments against seven UWSA leaders for conspiracy to possess, manufacture, or distribute heroin and methamphetamine. Among those indicted was Wei Hseuh-kang, whom the United States had previously indicted in 1993 and designated a Kingpin trafficker in 2000. The GOB has to date taken no direct action against any of the seven indicted UWSA leaders, although authorities have taken law enforcement action against other, lower ranking, members of the UWSA syndicate.

Narcotics Seizures. Summary statistics provided by Burmese drug officials indicate that during the first eleven months of 2005, Burmese police, army, and the Customs Service together seized Opium, heroin and morphine, however that account for just a fraction of Burma’s yearly potential opium production.

ICE (crystal methamphetamine) syndicate had smuggled over 800 kilograms of ICE from Burma to markets in China, Malaysia, the Philippines, and the United States. The GOB eradicated 3,907 ha of opium poppy in 2005, a 28 percent increase from the previous year, but less than 10 percent of the entire poppy crop.

Q: Dear Your Honour Secretary, do you have any evidence of involvement of the Burma Military central and local authorities’ in Narcotic production and trade?

Secretary Rice: Burma’s lower-level officials, particularly army and police personnel posted in border areas, are widely believed to be involved in facilitating the drug trade.

In 2004, the military junta ousted Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt, accusing him and hundreds of his military intelligence subordinates of corruption, including illegal activities conducted in northern Shan State. Authorities have not, however, charged any of these officials with drug-related offenses, and no Burma Army officer over the rank of full colonel has ever been prosecuted for drug offenses.

Government authorities, acting on the results on a joint investigation with DEA and AFP, closed the Myanmar Universal Bank (MUB) in 2005, revoked operating licenses for the Asia Wealth Bank and Mayflower Bank due to irregularities associated with money laundering.

Q: Are they not binded by any International Agreements and Treaties?

A: Burma is a party to the 1961 UN Single Convention as amended by the 1972 Protocol, the 1971 UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances, and the 1988 UN Drug Convention. In addition, Burma is also one of six nations (Burma, Cambodia, China, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam) that are parties to UNODC’s sub-regional action plan for controlling precursor chemicals and reducing illicit narcotics production and trafficking in the highlands of Southeast Asia. Burma is a party to the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime and its protocols against migrant smuggling and trafficking in persons.

Q; Do the Secretary know any thing about the Drug Flow/Transit from Burma?

A: Most ATS and heroin in Burma are produced in small, mobile labs located in the Burma/China and Burma/Thailand border areas, primarily in territories controlled by active or former insurgent groups. A growing amount of methamphetamine is reportedly produced in labs co-located with heroin refineries in areas controlled by the UWSA, the ethnic Chinese Kokang, and the Shan State Army-South (SSA-S). Ethnic Chinese criminal gangs dominate the drug syndicates operating in these areas.

Heroin and methamphetamine produced by these groups are trafficked overland (or via the Mekong River) primarily through China, Thailand, India, and, to a lesser extent, Laos, Bangladesh, and Burma itself. Heroin seizures in 2004 and 2005, and subsequent investigations, revealed the increased use by international syndicates of the Rangoon international airport and port for trafficking of drugs to the global narcotics market.

Q: What is the Internal Demand and usage of drugs in Burma?

A: The overall level of drug abuse is low in Burma compared with neighboring countries, in part because many Burmese are too poor to afford a drug habit. Traditionally, some farmers use opium as a painkiller and an antidepressant because they lack access to adequate health facilities. There has been a growing shift away from opium smoking toward injecting heroin, a habit that is more addictive and that poses a greater public health risk. Deteriorating economic conditions will likely stifle substantial growth in overall drug consumption, but the trend toward injecting narcotics is a significant concern. The government maintains that there are only about 70,000 registered addicts in Burma, but surveys conducted by UNODC, among others, suggest that the addict population could be as high as 300,000. NGOs and community leaders report increasing use of heroin and synthetic drugs, particularly among disaffected youth in urban areas and workers in ethnic minority mining communities. The UNODC estimated that in 2003 there were at least 15,000 regular ATS users in Burma and a joint UNODC/UNAIDS/WHO study estimated that there are between 30,000 and 130,000 injecting drug users.

Q: Do the Secretary, Madam Rice notice any relations between Heroin Injection and spread of HIV/AIDS?

A: Above two baseline studies are the most recent reliable data available on the nexus between drug abuse and HIV/AIDS in Burma. There is also a growing HIV/AIDS epidemic, linked in part to intravenous drug use. According to a UNODC regional center, an estimated 26 to 30 percent of officially reported HIV cases are attributed to intravenous drug use, one of the highest rates in the world. Infection rates are highest in Burma’s ethnic regions, and specifically among mining communities in those areas, where opium, heroin, and ATS are readily available, i.e., along Burma’s northern and eastern borders.

Q: How do you see the Military Government’s drug control programme?

A: Demand reduction programs and facilities are strictly limited,. There are six major drug treatment centers under the Ministry of Health, 49 other smaller detox centers, and eight rehabilitation centers which, together, have reportedly provided treatment to about 55,000 addicts over the past decade. As a pilot model, in 2003 UNODC established community-based treatment in Northern Shan State as an alternative to official treatment centers. About 1,600 addicts have participated in this treatment over the past three years. Since 2004, an additional 6,900 addicts have sought medical treatment and support from UNODC-sponsored drop-in centers and outreach workers active throughout northeastern Shan State. The Programs of CARE Myanmar, World Concern, and Population Services International (PSI), all of which focus on injecting drug use as a factor in the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Q: Are there any U.S. Policy Initiatives and Programs in Burma?

A: As a result of the 1988 suspension of direct USG counter narcotics assistance to Burma, the USG engages the Burmese government in regard to narcotics control only on a very limited level. DEA, through the U.S. Embassy in Rangoon, shares drug-related intelligence with the GOB and conducts joint drug-enforcement investigations with Burmese counter narcotics authorities.

The GOB regrettably did not provide sufficient cooperation for a 2005 joint opium yield survey. The U.S., therefore, conducted a unilateral yield estimate, primarily on the basis of comprehensive satellite imagery. The U.S. also supported an annual crop survey carried out by the UNODC that, using a different methodology to determine yields. The United States supported the UNODC’s Wa project for several years as the largest international donor, contributing a total over $8 million. In January 2005, following the unsealing of indictments against seven UWSA leaders, the United States reallocated unspent funds from the Wa project to UNODC projects outside of Wa territory. Bilateral counter narcotics projects are limited to a small, U.S.-financed crop substitution project in northern Shan State (Project Old Soldier). No U.S. counter narcotics funding directly benefits or passes through the GOB.

Q: What is The Road Map ahead?

A: Although large-scale and long-term international aids, including development assistance and law-enforcement aids is necessary to help curb drug production and trafficking in Burma, the military regime’s ongoing political repression has limited international support of all kinds, including support for Burma’s law enforcement efforts. Furthermore, a true opium replacement strategy must undertake an extensive range of counter narcotics actions, including crop eradication, effective law enforcement, alternative development, and support for former poppy farmers to ensure sustainability. The Burmese government must foster cooperation between itself and the ethnic groups involved in drug production and trafficking, especially the Wa, and enforce counter narcotics laws to eliminate poppy cultivation and opium production.

The United States Government believes that the Government of Burma must:

1.         eliminate poppy cultivation and opium production;

2.         prosecute drug-related corruption, especially corrupt government and military officials who facilitate or condone drug trafficking and

3.         money laundering;

4.         take action against high-level drug traffickers and their organizations;

5.         enforce its money-laundering legislation; and

6.         expand demand-reduction, prevention, and drug-treatment programs to reduce drug use

7.         and control the spread of HIV/AIDS.

8.         The GOB must also address the explosion of ATS that has flooded the region by gaining support and cooperation from the ethnic groups, especially the Wa, who facilitate the manufacture and distribution of ATS, primarily by ethnic Chinese drug gangs.

9.         The GOB must also close production labs and prevent the illicit import of precursor chemicals needed to produce synthetic drugs.

10.        The USG also urges the GOB to stem the troubling growth of a domestic market for the consumption of ATS.

QUESTION: Thank you very much for joining us, Madame Secretary, and good luck to you. We hope and pray that one day, US could show its ‘Colour blindness on Racial Issues’ and ‘Ultimate elimination of Gender discrimination’ by electing you as the President of USA.

SECRETARY RICE: Thank you, I am still young and lack of experience to dream for that enormous great task.

(SECRETARY RICE interview is adapted, edited and modified in to the interview format from http://www.state.gov/p/inl/rls/nrcrpt/2006/vol1/html/62110.htm  but all the facts and figures are correct.)

Then we all, the field investigation team, HQ based investigation team and Paradise (Nat Pye) Burma Action Committee, all decided to conclude our investigation. As I had revealed in our first investigation conclusion, we angels investigate, record, report, review, deliberate and give decisions in a flick of second not like SPDC’s fake road map for democracy which would take for few centuries.

Now we closed our investigation and started for INDICTMENT of all responsible persons at our Heaven/ Nat Pye Court.

MAHA BANDULA