By Siobhan Robbins
Feb 3rd 2021

Lay lived under the cartel most of her life .... some people had serious cases and their ears were cut off or throats slit with a knife," she says.

We are in Mae Sai district, northern Thailand.

The unit I'm following has one main goal: to stop smugglers coming over the border from Myanmar, the world's biggest producer of methamphetamine.

The enemy is often organised criminal networks, so the navy boat is fitted with several machine guns. The team on board is also armed and prepared to board any suspect vessels.

Teams search the inside of minivans and lorries, rifling through gloveboxes and banging on tyres, where shipments are sometimes stashed inside."It's methamphetamine that we find [most]," he says. "Mostly, it's hidden in drawers, and with personal belongings such as glasses. For bags and suitcases, it's hidden in small pockets inside the bags."

"We conservatively estimate the mass production or meth value in this region at about $61bn (£45bn) a year. That was last year… it's probably increased yet again. So the values are enormous. It's bigger than the gross domestic product of several countries."

Traffickers carrying drugs across the border can earn between 7,000 and 10,000 Thai baht (£170 to £244) per backpack carried, according to Colonel Suphan Royput, deputy chief of staff for the Pamuang Task Force.

"I was taught to sell drugs since I was a kid," she says. "My mother was a [drug] dealer and asked me to sell it. I was taught since I was a child that we must live with this circle and learn how to trade drugs and live with it... because the village was filled with sellers."

"I took drugs and I sold drugs. I could earn around 2,000 to 3,000 baht (£50 to £75) a day but it was all wasted on drugs. The oldest customer was 50 years old, the youngest 12 to 13," she explains.

"He pretended to order drugs… they didn't even summon him. They raided his house and took him to be burnt in tyres. They shot at him and burnt him.

According to the Department of Corrections, 84% of inmates are serving time for drug offences, with meth the prime reason.  Some 79% of female prisoners are in jail for charges relating to crystal and yaba.

At Kanchanaburi women's prison, near the western border with Myanmar, the legacy of meth is laid bare.I ask a group of new recruits to raise their hand if they're in jail due to drugs offences - all but a couple shoot up.

However, even these massive operations seem to do little to slow the syndicates down. Unlike heroin, they don't need farms or huge workforces to make meth. It isn't plant based, it's a synthetic chemical drug, meaning it's easily replaceable and almost pure profit.

full.https://news.sky.com/story/asias-meth-r ... d-12207643