Transnational Crime

Myanmar’s border zones remain major transit points for the illegal trade of jade, rare-earth minerals, and endangered species, often used as "taxation" by both the military and armed groups.

The Focus: How illicit logging and mining concessions fund the purchase of advanced weaponry (drones and loitering munitions).

Examines how the 2026 "proxy government" uses cybersecurity laws and surveillance technology (drones and AI) to treat dissidents as transnational criminals.

The Focus: The use of "lawfare" and regional extradition to target the diaspora, framing political opposition as "cyber-criminals."

This topic focuses on how drug money from the Golden Triangle is being used to build the "casino architecture" that now houses scam centers.

The Focus: Analyzing how the shift from opium to synthetic drugs (meth/fentanyl) provided the initial capital for the digital fraud industry.

Focuses on the 2026 humanitarian crisis where trafficked victims are no longer just "workers" but are coerced into committing crimes themselves under threat of torture.

The Focus: The "self-sustaining" criminal model where victims from over 60 countries are trapped in compounds like KK Park, often guarded by militias.

Following the sustained collapse of Afghan poppy cultivation and the ongoing domestic displacement caused by the civil war, Myanmar has firmly re-established itself as the world’s primary source of illicit opium. However, the "Opium Peak" of 2026 is defined less by traditional farming and more by a sophisticated supply chain evolution.

Focus: Why poppy cultivation expanded into new regions like Sagaing and Chin State as a survival strategy for conflict-affected farmers.