Burmese authorities reported that they have arrested 245 drug traffickers in an attempt to crack down on the trade in drugs within its border.

However, many feel that the actions are simply a show and not a dedicated effort to stem the trade.

From the Sydney Morning Herald:

Burma is the second largest opium-producing nation after Afghanistan.

The military government has promised that Burma will be opium free by 2014, and regularly burns drug hauls to convince the world it is tackling rampant drug production.

But after years of sharp decline, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reported last year that opium production in 2006 jumped by 46 per cent, blaming high-level collusion, corruption, and porous borders.

The United States, a vocal critic of the junta, has also said several hundred million amphetamine tablets are produced in Burma every year and shipped by gangs to neighbouring China and Thailand.

Even China, one of Burma’s few allies, has publicly pressured the regime to crack down on narco-trafficking.