YANGON — Thick clouds of black smoke billowed into the sky on the outskirts of Myanmar’s largest city Friday as authorities burned more than 50 tons of heroin, opium, ketamine, methamphetamine, marijuana and crystal meth — some $600 million of confiscated illegal drugs destroyed nationwide.
Myanmar, also known as Burma, has a long history of drug production linked to political and economic insecurity caused by decades of armed conflict.