Floating meth sacks in Myanmar sea worth $20m: official

Sacks of crystal meth scooped from the sea by Myanmar fishermen who mistook it for a deodorant substance had a street value of $20 million, an official told AFP yesterday, in a country believed to be the world’s largest methamphetamine producer.

The accidental drug haul off Myanmar’s coastal Ayeyarwady region occurred when fishermen spotted a total of 23 sacks floating in the Andaman Sea on Wednesday.

Each one contained plastic-wrapped bags labelled as Chinese green tea -- packaging commonly used by Southeast Asian crime gangs to smuggle crystal meth to far-flung destinations including Japan, South Korea and Australia.