Why Myanmar's Emergence As World’s Largest Opium Producer Is A Grave Security Nightmare For India

Myanmar has emerged as the world’s largest producer of opium. And this has grave security implications for India, especially the Northeast, because of the involvement of Chin-Kuki groups in the production and trafficking of narcotics. 

A report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) that was released Tuesday (12 December) revealed that opium production in Myanmar stood at an estimated 1,080 metric tonnes in the current year (read the report here). 

While Myanmar’s eastern Shan state bordering China, Laos and Thailand accounts for the major share of the country’s illegal poppy cultivation, the western Chin state bordering Mizoram and Manipur in India has also witnessed an exponential increase in poppy cultivation and opium production. 

Illegal poppy cultivation has also started in some areas of the northwestern Sagaing province, that lies next to Manipur and Nagaland. 

Shan state falls in the notorious ‘Golden Triangle’ of drug production comprising the border areas in the trijunction of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand. Shan state accounts for about 88 per cent of the estimated area of 47,100 hectares under illegal poppy cultivation in Myanmar. 

While most of the opium produced in Shan state is trafficked through Laos and Thailand, it is the opium produced in Chin and Sagaing that makes its way into India. 

The UNODC estimates that poppy is cultivated illegally in over 4,000 hectares in Chin and Sagaing. 

The crop yield has also gone up in Myanmar due to the use of fertilisers and pesticides. While the average production of opium from one hectare stood at 19.8 kilos in 2022, it has increased to 29.4 kilos per hectare this year. 

An estimated 1.17 lakh kilos of opium that was produced in Chin state of Myanmar has been trafficked into India this year. The market value of good quality opium in India is about Rs 1 crore per kilo. That puts the total value of the opium trafficked into India from Chin state of Myanmar at Rs 1,176 crore. 

The sharp rise in poppy cultivation and opium production in Myanmar is attributed by the UNODC to economic distress triggered by the prevailing strife in the country. 

The February 2021 coup staged by the Myanmar military (known as the ‘Tatmadaw’) triggered civil unrest with many Ethnic Armed Organisations (EAOs) and People’s Defence Forces engaging in armed struggle with the junta forces. 

The strife has resulted in largescale displacement of people and ruined the country’s economy. This, said UNODC Regional Representative (Southeast Asia and Pacific) Jeremy Douglas, has pushed thousands of farmers into illegal poppy cultivation and many more into drug trafficking. 

“Penury has driven many in Shan, Chin, Sagaing and even Kachin states of Myanmar to cultivate poppy and produce opium since the drug finds a ready market outside (Myanmar). Poppy cultivation is the only means for survival of many poor farmers in the war-torn country,” said Douglas. 

Involvement Of Kuki-Chin groups

In the Chin state and Sagaing province of Myanmar, it is the Kuki-Chin EAOs which control the opium production and trade. 

According to India’s Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and police forces of Myanmar and Assam which are cracking down on the trafficking of opium from Myanmar into the Northeast, the Kuki-Chin militant groups (known as Ethnic Armed Organisations, or EAOs, in Myanmar) wield total control of the opium production and trade. 

“Farmers in Chin and Sagaing regions are engaged by the Kuki-Chin EAOs to cultivate poppy. The small factories used to produce opium are run by these EAOs mostly in the areas bordering Mizoram and Manipur. The opium is then brought in by these groups into India,”  a senior officer in the NCB’s Zonal Office at Guwahati told Swarajya. 

The opium from Chin and Sagaing are brought into India through the porous Indo-Myanmar border which is unguarded in large stretches. 

The ‘Free Movement Regime’ along this international border that allows the hill tribes (read: people belonging to the Kuki-Chin-Zomi ethnic group) free and unrestricted travel up to 16 kilometres on either side of the border aids this trafficking.  

The preoccupation of security forces in Manipur with the ongoing ethnic conflict in that state has also helped the trafficking of opium from Myanmar into not only Manipur, but also neighbouring Mizoram. 

Opium, said the NCB officer as well as senior officers of Manipur Police and Assam’s Special Task Force that is tasked with cracking down on drug trafficking, is being smuggled into the Kuki-dominated Churachandpur, Chandel and Tengnoupal districts (bordering Myanmar) of Manipur. 

The drug is also being smuggled into Mizoram which is hosting over 70,000 displaced people from the Kuki-Chin-Zomi ethnic group of Myanmar. The Mizos are part of this larger ethnic group and share very close fraternal ties with the refugees from Myanmar. 

The Mizoram state government has not only provided shelter to the refugees from Myanmar, but has also stoutly resisted attempts by federal agencies to step up vigil along the Indo-Myanmar border. 

Some of the groups engaged in the cultivation of poppy and production and trafficking of opium, have close fraternal ties with each other and with Kuki militant outfits in Manipur like the Kuki National Liberation Front and the Kuki National Organisation (KNO, a conglomerate of 15 Kuki militant groups and sub-groups). 

This results in the Kuki-Chin EAOs in Myanmar dispatching opium and methamphetamine into Manipur through ‘couriers’ of the same ethnicity. These couriers then hand over the drugs to the Manipur-based militants who then arrange for their distribution to other parts of the country. 

Incidentally, the Kuki militant groups in Manipur are also engaged in illegal cultivation of poppy in the Kuki-dominated areas of the hill districts of the state. 

One of the factors behind the outbreak of ethnic violence in the state was  the crackdown on illegal poppy cultivation by the state government. 

The Serious Security Threat For India

The Kuki-Chin EAOs of Myanmar and the militant groups in Manipur are making a huge lot of money from this drug trade.

While the EAOs are using the funds to procure arms and train recruits to conduct an armed struggle against the junta in Myanmar, the Kuki militant groups are using the funds from drug trafficking to prepare for a long and protracted battle in future against Indian security forces. 

The Zo people — people belonging to the larger Kuki-Chin-Zomi ethnic group — dream of an integrated homeland comprising Chin state of Myanmar, Mizoram and the Kuki-Chin dominated hill districts of Manipur. 

This dream is not to be dismissed as a wishful and fantastical one. Some political parties and civil society organisations (CSOs) in Manipur and Mizoram are silently working towards achieving this goal. 

An important step towards achieving this goal is to keep the ethnic cauldron boiling in Manipur so that the ethnic divide between Kukis and Meiteis becomes irreconcilable. That, hope the proponents of the ‘Zo homeland’ idea, will lead to the carving out of a separate state for Kukis from Manipur. 

The Kuki militant groups in Manipur who are strengthening themselves through funds generated from the drug trade have a major role to play in this.

They have the task of perpetuating violence against Meiteis which will inevitably invite retribution by the Meiteis against Kukis, thus strengthening the narrative that Kukis and Meiteis cannot coexist in peace in Manipur.  

The Kuki militant groups are also preparing themselves for a future armed conflict with the Manipur police and security forces. Backed by the Kuki-Chin EAOs of Myanmar, the Kuki militant groups of Manipur can pose a formidable challenge to Manipur police and Indian security forces. 

What is worrying is that the Kuki outfits of Manipur find easy shelter in Myanmar and also Mizoram. In the event of an outbreak of hostilities with Indian security forces, the Kuki outfits will get shelter and sustenance from across the interstate and international borders. 

Kuki-Chin militant groups and CSOs may talk peace and display their allegiance to India, but that is just a diversionary tactic, says an Army veteran who has spent many years in the Northeast and is considered to be an expert on insurgent outfits and ethnic issues in the region. 

“Their ultimate objective is to have a ‘Zo’ homeland comprising Chin state of Myanmar, Mizoram and Kuki-Chin areas of Manipur. That is why they are so keen on encouraging influx of Kuki-Chin people from Myanmar into Manipur and settling them down in the hills areas of the state. This is being done to strengthen their claim over the hill districts of Manipur. They are working according to a larger plan that runs counter to India’s integrity and national interest,” said the Army veteran. 

What Needs To Be Done

An important step in foiling this game plan is to launch an intensive crackdown on drug trafficking in the Northeast. That can be done by fencing the Indo-Myanmar border and intensifying vigil along this border. 

This will not only stop cross-border drug trafficking, but also the influx of people from Myanmar into Manipur and Mizoram. 

The Mizoram government should be told very sternly to register all refugees from Myanmar and obtain their biometric details. 

An exercise should be launched in Manipur to detect all Kuki-Chin illegal infiltrators (from Myanmar) through an exercise to update the National Register of Citizens (NRC). These infiltrators should be housed in camps and deported to Myanmar once peace returns to that country. 

Also, security forces have to commence operations against the Kuki outfits in Manipur. The close links between Kuki outfits and Kuki CSOs also have to be severed, by force if necessary. 

The union government also has to make it abundantly clear to Kuki-Chin CSOs that Manipur’s territorial integrity is non-negotiable and will be preserved at all costs. They have to be told very unequivocally that the demand for a separate Kuki state carved out of Manipur is impossible. 

But first, the trafficking of opium and other drugs from Myanmar into Manipur and Mizoram has to be stopped by all means. Laxity on this could cost the country very dear in future.