Drug trade picks sea route

ASIAN drug-trafficking networks are increasingly using sea routes to smuggle methamphetamines out of Myanmar and ramping up ketamine production as they seek to expand their business.

Meth from coup-hit Myanmar’s northeastern Shan state – the regional epicentre of the drug’s production – is being smuggled by boats to avoid tighter patrols on land routes through China and Thailand, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in an annual report yesterday.