There's no business like drugs in Muse

Business in Muse, Shan State's northernmost city, opposite China's Ruili has been getting to an all-time low, where the only people that remain unruffled are gambling and drug operators, report Hawkeye from the border:

Yan Yan, one of the big hotels in Hokard, the busiest neighborhood in Muse, 110 miles north of Lashio, that used to boast its number of patrons by the hundreds, has only about a dozen visitors each day.

The Lashio Restaurant used to buy 10 viss (1 viss=1.6 kg) of pork each day to feed its customers, but now it buys only 3 viss. Many other food shops as a result are closed.

The taxi drivers used to earn more than 10,000 kyat ($ 10) each day, but since New Year their income has been going gradually down. "We consider it a lucky day if we get 2,000 kyat," said one driver. "Some days, it doesn't even come to 1,000 kyat."

The reason, they said, is there are so few traders coming to town. The traders meanwhile, complain about the continued free fall of the kyat value against the yuan. "We find ourselves selling goods bought the previous day from China at a loss to our clients the next day, because of the abrupt drop in the exchange rates," said a local businesswoman.

The exchange rate, 100 kyat to the yuan last year, became 110 early in the year. "Now 10,000 kyat will get you only 64 yuan," she said.

Others also blame the Quarantine law promulgated recently by Beijing to control the spread of contagious diseases from neighboring countries. As a result, traders from Laos, Vietnam, Thailand as well as Burma, can export products from their countries only after being examined and certified by Chinese health department, reported Mizzima, 23 September.

The upshot was the gradual proliferation of illegal gambling dens that also sell drugs in Muse, set up with tacit concurrence from the local authorities. "Every resident knows where these establishments are, but nobody is catching them," said a townsman.

Yaba, the WY brand, is 1,000 kyat ($ 1) per pill; Khakhu (a mixture of opium and minced hpak-nawk, a kind of edible creeper, smoked with a pipe) 5,000 kyat apiece; opium is 1 million kyat ($ 1,000) per viss and heroin, 3.5 million ($3,500) per kg.

Related report: Gamblers don't need casinos, 8 September 2005