Myanmar says major drugs haul burned ( AFP ) October 29, 2002


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Myanmar says major drugs haul burned

WASHINGTON, Oct 29 (AFP)

The Myanmar government said Tuesday it had destroyed opium poppy seeds and chemicals that would have produced heroin worth more than one billion dollars on the streets.

A statement released by a lobbying firm in Washington, said junta leader General Khin Nyunt had taken part in the third drug burning ceremony staged this year in Myanmar.

It said hundreds of kilogrammes of narcotics and chemicals that go into heroin production and enough opium poppy seeds to cultivate 100,000 acres (40, 000 hectares) of land had been burned last Friday in Lashio, Shan state.

The government statement estimated that the opium seeds handed over by farmers could have produced 43 tonnes of heroin which could be sold for more than one billion dollars at New York street prices.

Government spokesman Hla Min said the action showed the Myanmar government's determination to end the huge drug trade."It will take time to achieve our goals but we are determined to make significant progress, year to year." He added that studies by the United Nations and the United States, the main target market for the narcotics, showed that Myanmar was "moving in the right direction".

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