Video emerged Friday showing hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of heroin, methamphetamine and other confiscated illegal drugs being set on fire in Burma .More than 50 combined tons of those drugs, as well as opium, ketamine, marijuana and crystal meth – estimated to be worth $600 million – were set ablaze in the southeast Asian country to mark the United Nations' International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, according to The Associated Press.This year, the street value of drugs destroyed was more than double last year's total, said Police Lt.Col.
Aung Myat Soe of Yangon's Anti-Narcotics Police Force.In Yangon alone, some $321 million worth of 31 different types of drugs were set ablaze, Aung Myat Soe added.HIDDEN TUNNEL DISCOVERED IN TIJUANA MAY HAVE SUPPORTED CROSS-BORDER TRAFFICKING OPERATIONSSmoke and flame rise from burning illegal narcotics during a destruction ceremony marking the U.N.’s International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, on the outskirts of Yangon, Burma, on Friday, June 26, 2026.
(Thein Zaw/AP)Footage taken in Yangon showed a massive array of drugs engulfed in a raging inferno, with thick black smoke billowing into the sky.Burma has been a major source of illegal drugs destined for East and Southeast Asia, despite repeated efforts to crack down, and has long been one of the world's largest producers of heroin and methamphetamine.More than 50 tons of heroin, opium, ketamine, methamphetamine, marijuana and crystal meth were burned on Friday, June 26, 2026, in Burma, to mark the U.N.'s International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.(AP)Violent political unrest in Burma following the military takeover in 2021 — which has led into a civil war between the military government and its pro-democracy opponents, as well as ethnic armed groups — has caused an increase in drug production, experts told the AP.FEDS SEIZE $6.4 MILLION WORTH OF COCAINE ABOARD OIL TANKER AT PORT OF LOS ANGELES, ARREST ...