LIMITED OFFICIAL USE
Financiers provide backing for a core group and in return receive a proportional share of the resulting profits. Their risk is fiduciary only, but they can bring pressure on a core group to revise procedures as the financial lever is a powerful one, not only in the opium business, but in Southeast Asian societies in general. Some- times, financiers engage in narcotics trafficking themselves, but it is more customary for them just to monitor the business and await the profits.
Middlemen bring together the buyer and the core group representative. Almost without exception, they are astute businessmen who generally receive a percentage of the sale from both sides. They do not handle the merchandise, they merely serve as the instrument of commerce between the supply and the demand. Middlemen are not required in every transaction as managers and core group members often make their own arrangements. But as middlemen play an important role in many phases of life in the Orient, so they often play a similar role in the opium business.
While refining #4 heroin is not a science, it is an art. As such, there are no authorized textbooks or technical schools to aid the novice. He must learn how much of what chemical to use, or when to apply a certain degree of heat at the proper time, from a skilled and practising "chemist. The chemist is well paid for his labors, sometimes receiving a percentage of the sale of the heroin, .or even being allowed to personally merchandise some of his product. Generally, the #4 chemist is independent and contracts his skills to large producers, such as the Khakweyei leaders who own and operate opium refineries at Tachilek, Burma. Successful chemists are well-known in the business, where a good reputation means steady work and where a good product means greater profit.
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE
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