Illicit amphetamine industry knows no bounds : UN

The amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) industry has pioneered new manufacturing bases and trade routes over the past five years, clinching its position as the world's second most popular drug after cannabis, a United Nations report revealed Tuesday.

"Over the past five years, ATS manufacture has spread to new regions which previously reported little or no manufacture," the UN Office on Drugs and Crime's 2011 Global ATS Assessment report said.

"ATS are attractive to millions of drug users in all regions of the world because they are affordable, convenient to the user and often associated with a modern and dynamic lifestyle."

The UN's last assessment on the illicit production and trade in ATS, including ecstasy and methamphetamines, was published in 2008.

The illicit manufacture of methamphetamines in South-East Asia has continued apace despite a significant rise in seizures from 32 million pills in 2008 to 133 million last year.

While remains the main source of methamphetamine production, new bases have emerged.

Over the past five years, Indonesia has become a major producer of ecstasy, threatening to replace the Netherlands as the main regional supplier of the up-market party drug.

In Europe, there is growing evidence of the spread of methamphetamine production replacing less expensive amphetamines.

Illicit methamphetamine laboratories have been seized for the first time in Austria, Belarus, Lithuania, Poland and Portugal, according to the UN report.

"In Germany, more methamphetamine laboratories have been reported than amphetamine since 2008," it said.

Africa, which appeared to have escaped the ATS menace for years, is now on the map.

The US government last year indicted members of a large international cocaine trafficking ring for alleged intent to establish a methamphetamine laboratory in Liberia.

As recently as June, a methamphetamine laboratory was discovered in Nigeria, on the outskirts of Lagos.

Saudi Arabia, Syria and Jordan have reported increased seizures of ATS, while Iran has reportedly become a manufacturer and exporter of methamphetamines.

While new ATS labs have sprouted up worldwide, Myanmar has kept its position as the main supplier of methamphetamine in mainland South-East Asia, while the Netherlands held its supremacy in the ecstasy market worldwide, despite the rising production in Indonesia.

The report said the majority of Burma's illicit drug production was in the eastern part of Shan state, home to several ethnic minority insurgencies including the United Wa State Army and Shan State Army.

"There are indications that at least 50 different organised criminal groups are involved in activities related to the trafficking of drugs from Myanmar [Burma]," it said.

Thailand is Burma's largest market.

Thai authorities seized nearly 50 million methamphetamine pills in 2010, compared with 27 million in 2009, 22 million in 2008, and 14 million in 2007.

Burma authorities seized only 2 million methamphetamine pills last year, compared with 24 million in 2009.

Thailand is also becoming a growing market for crystalline methamphetamine, trafficked to the country by couriers from Iran, and ecstasy from the Netherlands.

China has seen a surge in methamphetamine imports from Burma across its southern border since 2009.

Trafficking in Burma-sourced methamphetamine is also on the rise in India, Nepal and Bangladesh.

In Europe, the Netherlands continued to keep its dubious position as the continent's main supplier of ecstasy, the report said.

"Ecstasy-group substances in the EU continue to be sourced almost exclusively from the Netherlands and Belgium, with the Netherlands being the most frequently mentioned country of origin for ecstasy by European countries."