The flower fields stretch out from the mountain village along most every road тАФ fluttering patchworks of white and pink and purple.
The beauty in this corner of Shan state, in northeastern Myanmar, might seem a respite from the countryтАЩs brutal civil war. Instead the blooms are a symptom: It is all opium poppy in these fields, and Myanmar again ranks as the worldтАЩs biggest exporter of the raw material to make heroin and other opiates. And thatтАЩs just the beginning.
Since descending into a full-blown civil conflict nearly four years ago, after the military overthrew the elected government, Myanmar has cemented its status as a hotbed of transnational crime. It is a playground for warlords, arms dealers, human traffickers, poachers, drug syndicates and generals wanted by international courts.
