$100M WORTH OF DRUGS DESTROYED

YANGON, Myanmar - Myanmar, the world's second-largest producer of
opium, on Monday destroyed more than a tonne of seized substances with
a street value of over $100 million US to mark an international
anti-drug day, officials said.

Speaking at the drug burning, police chief Maj. Gen. Khin Yi said
Myanmar has made the eradication of "the scourge of narcotic drugs ...
a national priority," resulting in a sharp decline in opium poppy
cultivation and a drop in the quantities of seized drugs.

Drug enforcement officials said they torched 170 kilograms of heroin,
691 kilograms of opium, more than 20 million methamphetamine tablets,
102 kilograms of crystallized methamphetamine, and chemicals used for
making drugs, worth a total of $148.4 million.

The ceremony was held at the at the Drug Elimination Museum in Yangon
to mark International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking,
and was attended by senior government officials.

According to the U.S. State Department's annual survey of worldwide
drug production and trafficking, Myanmar "is the world's
second-largest producer of illicit opium, accounting for more than 90
per cent of Southeast Asian heroin." Heroin is derived from opium.