Local youths have joined hands with the village tract administrators and community people in a self-help drug elimination campaign in Nam-pawng Village Tract, Lashio Township, northern Shan State.
Nam-pawng local youths and community elders gathered at 9 pm on March 6 to monitor and inspect people who were suspicious of having ties to drugs and arrested Sai San La from Mongyai with Yaba. They also arrested U Lone Maung Aye, a Nam-pawng resident who has ties to Sai San La, together with the drugs.
“Local residents’ report is very important. Mong-yai resident Sai San La is a relative of Nam-pawng resident U Lone Maung Aye. He often comes here. We received a report about him bringing drugs and distributing them so we waited for him and caught him. We handed the two men over to the police,” Sai San Lu, a youth leader from Nam Pawng Village, told the Shan Herald Agency for News.
The two men are currently detained at the Lashio Police Station.
“There are too many Yaba [drugs] in our area. There are too many Yaba [drugs] in this area even though we don’t have a Yaba manufacturing machine. I don’t dare to think about the future of the youths if the youths don’t pay special attention and fight this issue,” said Sai San Lu from the youth group, which is carrying out self-help drug elimination activities.
The Shan State Drug Monitoring Group said: “Yaba are spread all over the Shan State and even 12-year-old children are using them. The worst-quality type in the Yaba market only costs 100 kyats per tablet.”
