Drugs worth half a billion dollars burned in Myanmar

Authorities in Myanmar burned over half a billion dollars’ worth of drugs, including opium, heroin and methamphetamine, to mark the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on Saturday.

Video shows uniformed officials pushing buttons to send stacks of cannabis up in flames in the country’s commercial capital Yangon. Firefighters are seen on standby as thick smoke billows into the air.

UN experts have warned that the methamphetamine market has been expanding in southeast Asia despite Covid travel restrictions. The Golden Triangle, where Myanmar, Laos and Thailand’s borders meet, has for decades been the hub of the region’s drug trade.