Myanmar burns over 240 million USD of seized drugs

Myanmar authorities ceremonially burned 244.65 million U.S. dollars worth of narcotic drugs in three main cities -- Yangon, Mandalay and Taunggyi on Friday to mark the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

The drugs included 1,250.24 kilograms of opium, 516.92 kilograms of heroin, along with various other types of drugs.

This is the 28th time this event has been held since the United Nations General Assembly endorsed June 26 as the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking in 1987.

The ceremony was attended by Myanmar Vice President Sai Mauk Kham, Chairman of the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control and Home Minister Lieutenant-General Ko Ko, as well as representative of UN entities and INGOs and social organizations.

Addressing the occasion, Sai Mauk Kham said the government's drug elimination interventions rest on two pillars, which are supply elimination and demand elimination.

Myanmar is also cooperating with the National Narcotic Control Commission of China, Office of Narcotic Control Board of Thailand, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Australian Federal Police in areas of law enforcement and alternative development, Sai said.

Lieutenant-General Ko Ko said that the Myanmar government have integrated rural development and improving livelihood of indigenous people into the national poverty alleviation program in opium cultivation areas where people had to rely on illicit activities and opium cultivation to meet their basic needs.

Myanmar is known as Southeast Asia's largest poppy growing country and the world's second largest after Afghanistan. Endi