Burma's military junta burned more than 18,00 kilograms of seized drugs in the capital of Rangoon Sunday in a ceremony to mark a U.N.-sponsored international anti-drugs day.
The ceremony was attended by government leaders, diplomats, U.N. representatives and other officials. The drugs had been seized by law enforcement agencies and presented in court as evidence before being destroyed.
Burma is the world's second-largest producer of opium and its derivative, heroin, after Afghanistan.
Brigadier General Khin Yi, who is the police chief and secretary of the junta's Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control, said an opium survey conducted annually with the United States indicates a drastic reduction of potential crop yield in the past eight years. Burma wants to eradicate opium production by 2014.
Information for this report is provided by AP and AFP.
