#Myanmar (Burma) - Illegal sugar trade continues at Myawaddy border area

Illegal sugar trading continues at the border area of Myawady in Kayin State despite the government suspension of sugar import and re-export, an official of a local sugar trade group said. 

To control the unstable foreign currency exchange rate, the Ministry of Commerce temporarily stopped issuing re-export licenses for sugar and fuel in August. 

Although sugar re-exports are suspended, there are still illegal imports and a large local stockpile of sugar locally, as there are few buyers in China, U Win Htay, vice president of the Myanmar Sugar and Cane Related Products Association, said. 

“There is illegal trading, mostly in Myawady. There is plenty of sugar locally. It is hard to estimate the amount of the sugar in Myanmar, so we should stop the smuggling,” he said. 

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 The sugar season is from December to April. As sugar prices in the global and Myanmar markets are not much different, sugar mills are buying sugarcane for less than the amount paid last season, according to sugarcane farmers, he said.  

  One tonne of sugarcane was priced at K50,000 last year compared to K45000 this year, so farmers are losing K5000 per tonne.

“The sugarcane price goes up or down depending on the price of sugar,” he said.
If there is very low demand for sugar from the mills, then the sugarcane farmers are likely to suffer a bigger loss, he said, so illegal imports of sugar must be stopped, he said.
Imported sugar is exported to China with the re-export license.

Sourse - MMTimes 

#Laos drug lord ‘Mr X’ jailed for life by Thai court

A major Laos drug lord dubbed ‘Mr X’ was jailed for life on Tuesday by a Bangkok court, as Thailand battles record meth trafficking through its borders.

Xaysana Keopimpha, a swaggering Laotian who before his arrest paraded his celebrity links and penchant for sports cars on social media, was picked up at Bangkok’s main airport in January last year.

He was accused of being a kingpin in a meth smuggling ring that funneled tons of Myanmar made yaba pills and ice — crystal meth — through Communist Laos and into Thailand.

The Laos route south is increasingly used by trafficking gangs keen to reach markets in Thailand, Malaysia and as far as Australia and Japan — where the price of the drug steepens.

A Bangkok court initially handed Xaysana the death penalty but reduced it to life imprisonment after he admitted several charges of drug smuggling, including over 1.2 million yaba pills in a case dating back to 2016.

“Due to his confession during the investigation process, the court decreases his sentence to life imprisonment,” a Criminal Court judge said in his ruling.

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 Evidence pulled from mobile phones linked Xaysana with a smuggling network that used Nong Khai, the Thai border point with Laos, to move drugs south, the judge added.

Standing handcuffed in his prison uniform, Xaysana did not react as the verdict was delivered.

Details of Xaysana’s colorful life unspoiled after his arrest last year.

Investigators say he boasted a contacts book stuffed with the rich and powerful, including Thai celebrities, who may have helped shield his narcotics cartel.

According to Thai police, Bangkok and its surrounding suburbs offered crucial hideaways and protection for the drug syndicate, with high-end car dealers and celebrities helping to launder Xaysana’s profits.

They allegedly helped move drugs manufactured in the “Golden Triangle” — a lawless border region where Thailand, Laos and Myanmar all meet.

Rampant corruption across the zone has allowed the drug trade to flourish.

Record amounts of yaba and the more addictive ice are being seized by Thai police.

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 But drug experts say the seizures are as much a sign of surging production as improved police work given cartels have easily been able to make up for confiscations and there has been no palpable increase in street prices. 

 In January, a Thai naval patrol seized 11 million meth pills from traffickers using the Mekong River to move drugs Laos into Thailand.

Cops said estimated the haul to have a street value of up to US$100 million (THB31 billion) — with yaba pills worth up to US$10 (THB310) a pop in parts of Southeast Asia.

Laos’ opaque authoritarian communist regime has also turned the insular country into a sanctuary for both drug and wildlife traffickers fleeing more aggressive policing in Thailand.
The highest quality yaba pills (15-20 percent meth purity) come from the factories of the North and South Wa — armed ethnic groups in a self-governing state on the Myanmar-China border — and by the Lahu hill tribe.
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Source - Coconuts.co
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