TNAG-0416-FCO40-462-Review-of-narcotics-problem-in-Hong-Kong-1973 — Page 112

amounted to some 1100 tons of crude opium. Estimates indicate that between 100,000 and 200,000 cultivators in India were dependent on the crop.

The Indian Government supplies the world market for medical opium products, under a strict system of control highly approved by the Commission. Addiction remains a problem in India, since it encourages the illicit market and makes control more difficult. Illicit Indian opium smuggled into Ceylon contributes to the Far East traffic through Penang, Singapore and Hong Kong. The extent of this traffic is difficult to determine, but it appears to be boosted by the gold shortage in India, where illegal gold importers under-invoice dollar purchases of Swiss gold with opium traded in Macao"

The opium production of Pakistan is considerably less than that of India. Official figures based on licit cultivation amount to some 10 tons annually (Table 4). The areas of cultivation lie in the mountainous north western frontier region on the border of Afghanistan. There is a considerable degree of addiction in the country, and illicit traffic flourishes. Illicit opium from Pakistan tends to flow into the European stream through Afghanistan, and Iran.

The focal area of the Far Eastern narcotic traffic lies in the border states of Burma, Thailand, Laos and North Vietnam. In 1967, a United Nations survey team estimated the area's opium capacity at 1,000 metric tons annually. These states with the exception of Thailand share a common frontier with S.E. China. Addiction to opium is indigenous and unofficial poppy cultivation is widespread. Any major drive to check the growing traffic in this area has the twofold problem of controlling opium production, and stemming the stream of narcotics in transit from S.E. China en route to Bangkok and Hong Kong.

Burma achieved independence in 1948 as a union of five minority states. The country is high on the Communists' list for subversion. The military government in Rangoon under General Ne Wai adopted a policy of neutrality between E. and W. The Burmese Communist Party was outlawed in 1962 and has gone underground. The presence of a strong central government in Burma has unfortunately not achieved political stability in the country as a whole. The tribes in the hill provinces continue to strive for more independence from Rangoon. Communist subversive activities in the Chinese frontier areas of Burma and Laos foster unrest and undermine the authority of the Burmese Government. These political factors aggravate the problem of narcotics control in Burma. Official figures based on 1969 estimates show that Burma produces about 180 tons of opium annually (Table 5). The total annual production capacity has been estimated at 400 tons 5, of which some 300 tons leave the country illicitly. The major poppy growing areas lie in the Kachin and Shan States which share about 1200 miles of frontier with S.E. provinces of China. The Burmese Government has had difficulty in curtailing the production of opium in these States, because of weak administrative control from Rangoon. Some success has been achieved, however, by the introduction of wheat cultivation to replace the large acreage of poppy fields. At the same time communications across the Salween River are being improved, and joint measures to control the border traffic in opium have been agreed with the governments of Laos and Thailand.

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