Inside world ‘crime capital’ where heroin lords gamble in ‘underworld Vegas’ & drug addicts glug deadly ‘happy water’

KNOWN as the Golden Land, it is one of the most beautiful places on the planet, boasting unspoilt beaches, majestic mountains and stunning temples.

But Myanmar has been plagued by corruption in recent years and has now been named as the world’s organised crime hotspot.

Since the military coup of 2021, the South East Asian state has become a hotbed for international crime with warlords, human traffickers, drugs syndicates and cyber criminals using the war-torn country as their base.

Ravaged by civil war, thousands have been killed, three million displaced and entire towns destroyed.

The country is even home to a whole new city – likened to a mini Las Vegas – where countless new casinos have sprung up, facilitating an illegal gambling network, as well as sophisticated online scam ‘factories’.

But it wasn’t always like that.

Most locals adhere to a Burmese religion based around the worship of Nature Spirits which are regularly celebrated in wildly fun festivals.

And the country is filled with incredible Buddhist temples, with ancient capital cities like Amarapura, Sagaing and Inwa filled with beautiful stupas and pagodas.

But with its stunning poppy fields, Myanmar – previously known as Burma – has become a major player in the international drug trade.

According to the Global Organised Crime Index it is now the world’s second-largest producer of opium, accounting for a quarter of the global supply, and the largest producer of heroin in the region.

Mark Farmaner, Director of UK-based charity Advance Myanmar, says the drug trade has being going on for years and has been facilitated by the Burmese Military.

“At the root of all this is the Burmese Military which has allowed this situation since the 1990s because that is what it needed to prop itself up and because so many members of the military are corrupt and have been involved in these kinds of deals,” he explains.

“Senior members of the military have been benefitting personally as well as the institution benefitting politically.”

Opium ravaging the country

In the Shan region of Myanmar the opium poppy is known as ‘the peace flower’, which is ironic as criminal gangs fight for dominance over its lucrative trade.

After the coup of 1988, which ousted dictator Ne Win, the struggling Burmese Military struck deals with ethnic arms groups to buy them off, allowing them to run their own territories, which led to an expansion of drug manufacturing and dealing.

Before the military coup, farmers grew their poppy crops in secret away from the prying eyes of the authorities.

But now, with no government, the poppies are grown in plain sight.

“Now there is no government, no military, so we don’t have to hide,”  Hla Win told the New York Times, as she returned from tending her poppies in a field across the street from her house. “It’s the best time ever for opium.”

The police station is where young people go to buy the drugs

Mark Farmaner, Advance Myanmar

Before the coup, elected officials and foreign bureaucrats had tried to convince Shan opium farmers to grow legitimate crops such as avocados, coffee and corn. 

But for impoverished farmers in isolated areas the market for opium was far more lucrative.

Jungle drug factories

It isn’t just heroin that is rife – the country is also one of the world’s largest manufacturers of synthetic drugs, including methamphetamine, ketamine and fentanyl. 

With jungle lab drug factories in overdrive, the street price of these drugs are alarmingly cheap.

A bottle of beer in Myanmar costs about 80p. A little pink pill, a potent combination of methamphetamine and caffeine known as yaba, can cost as little as 20p.

And another drug of choice in the nightclubs of South East Asia is “happy water” – a potentially lethal mixture that can contain MDMA, tramadol, caffeine, diazepam and ketamine.

This has led to many locals becoming hopelessly addicted.

Mark Farmaner says: “The Myanmar military allows drug use in ethnic states, they see it as a way of weakening resistance to their rule, but don’t tolerate it in central Myanmar. 

“On one trip to Karen State in Myanmar I asked people if they report the drug problem to police and what the police do. They laughed and said the police station is where young people go to buy the drugs.”

‘Mini Las Vegas’

Drugs aren’t the only illegal activity plaguing Myanmar. The Global Organised Crime Index says financial scams and illegal gambling – both linked to human trafficking – are rife.

Locals and trafficking victims are crammed into offices where they engage in online conversations with people across the globe.

It may be a lonely widow looking for love, who is duped into thinking she is talking to an admirer before being persuaded to hand over thousands in hard-earned cash, or a would-be investor lured in by a crypto-currency scam.

The callers build up a close connection with the victim in a scam known as “pig butchering”— which refers to fattening a pig before slaughter.  

The United Nations estimated last year that at least 120,000 foreigners were being forced into the cyber crime and online gambling industries in Myanmar. 

Some have been fooled into thinking they were going for legitimate jobs, after applying through adverts promising extravagant perks, and others were kidnapped off the streets of China.

They are then held prisoner and forced to work in enclaves run by warlords, in inhumane and abusive conditions, often subjected to torture and violent threats if they don’t comply.

The area also depends heavily on illegal gambling, according to the Global Organised Crime Network, with casino operations targeted at Chinese nationals continuing to grow.

The illegal gambling boom has helped to create a  “mini Las Vegas” on the country’s border with Thailand.

Shwe Kokko New City is home to many of the online scammers and the hub for the country’s illegal gambling networks.

Mark Farmaner says: “It is huge. When you are in Thailand, across the border, you can see this town on the other side of the river in Burma that is massive.

“You can see from miles away the glow in the night, all the buildings. In the jungle they have built this massive scam centre and it is all built with the support and cooperation of the military. It is almost a small-scale Vegas.”

Other global financial crimes in the country include illegal SIM card distributors who have created a vast and complex network of call centre scams.

Criminals often pose as state officials representing the police to convince victims to pay them fees and provide their national ID card and bank account details.

Some of the gangs behind these scams are led by Chinese and Taiwanese nationals collaborating with Thai citizens.

Brutal dictators

Mark Farmaner says the Shwe Kokko scam epicentre was created with the cooperation of the Burmese Military.

“In the 1990s, the resistance force the Karen National Union, took control of part of Karen state. They have their own administration, schools and hospitals in their area and their own army that is protecting the Karen people there,” he explains.

“They were one of the strongest resistance forces, so the Burmese Military played divide and rule because some of the Karen were Buddhist and some were Christian. 

They are acting effectively like brutal dictators. They can do what they like and local people are too afraid to speak out

Mark Farmaner

“So they managed to get some of the Karen army to split. They then took over an area of land where the Burmese Military said ‘do what you like here.’

“They immediately got into Illegal cross-border trade and drugs and now they have this massive Shwe Kokko centre, this illegal town with human trafficking, everything – you name it, it is going on there.”

With no resolution in sight, the ongoing conflict in Myanmar has allowed it to become one of the most corrupt countries in the world and lawlessness goes virtually unchallenged.

“The impact on the local people of the global criminal network on their doorstep is huge,” says Mark.

“Local people are suffering terribly. They are losing their land, they are losing their livelihoods.

“Some people are being forced to work. There are groups who want peace, they want democracy and they are fighting to resist the military.

“But then there are criminal groups who have done deals with the Burmese Military. 

“A lot of the criminal gangs running these scam centres have no respect for human rights, they are very brutal and authoritarian. And they are funded by the drugs and the illegal scam centres.

“I have seen some of the leaders driving around in red and yellow Porsches. They are acting effectively like brutal dictators. They can do what they like and local people are too afraid to speak out.”