Talk:News:2019-04-22/Eradication/mandalay-police-seize-about-349-300-cannabis-plants-on-a-20-acre-farm-at-myotha-industrial-park-in-ngazun-town
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Related news items
Seven outlets reported this raid. This one news item covers them all. It follows Radio Free Asia (30 April 2019) for the source link and the summary. The other reports are:
- Myanmar Digital News (25 April 2019), reprinting the Global New Light of Myanmar account of the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control (CCDAC) announcement;
- The Irrawaddy (24 April 2019);
- AFP in Arab News (25 April 2019);
- Reuters (26 April 2019);
- the Associated Press in Voice of America (21 May 2019), on the formal charges;
- Myanmar Now (15 January 2020), on the trial.
The sentence passed on one of the three in March 2020 has its own news item, Myingyan District Court sentence.
Dating
The CCDAC announcement printed by Myanmar Digital News says the combined team "inspected the plantation on 22 April". Radio Free Asia says the area was raided "on April 22". AFP says police raided the site "Monday" (22 April). Reuters says police "raided the 20-acre site on Wednesday" (24 April). The Irrawaddy says the CCDAC made its announcement "on Wednesday". Its report of the 2020 sentence says the arrests were made "on April 24, 2019". The stored date, 22 April 2019, follows the CCDAC, Radio Free Asia and AFP.
Source discrepancies
| Point | Radio Free Asia | Myanmar Digital News (CCDAC) | The Irrawaddy | AFP / Reuters |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plants | "about 349,300 marijuana plants, 5,200 seedlings" | "about 349,300 marijuana plants, 5,200 seedlings" | "over 300,000 marijuana plants" | "nearly 350,000" |
| Dried cannabis | not given | "over 270 kilo of marijuana" | "270.5 kg of dried marijuana" | "270 kilograms" (AFP); "270 kg of 'marijuana'" (Reuters) |
| Land leased from the industrial park company | the company intended to cover "a total of 60 acres" | "about 20 acres of land for plantation were leased" | "about 60 acres of land for plantation were leased" | not given |
| Who carried out the raid | Mandalay police with the Chemical Inspection Department, the Food and Drug Administration Department and the Anti-Narcotics Task Force | police from Mandalay, the Chemical Inspection Department (Mandalay), the Food and Drug Administration Department and the Drug-Enforcement Division | "a team of police, anti-narcotics officers and officials from the FDA" | police |
The Associated Press (Voice of America) and Myanmar Now also give 349,300 plants, 5,200 seedlings and 380 kg of seeds. This news item follows Radio Free Asia for the agencies and the plant count.
Attribution
The claim that the plants were hemp is the defendants'. Radio Free Asia carries it from their lawyer, Thein Than Oo, who said the farm was a research farm on legally leased land with the regional government's permission and that the police had confused hemp with marijuana. Reuters reports the same lawyer and says it reviewed a letter from a Mandalay regional official granting the company permission to grow hemp. The Associated Press (Voice of America) carries the company's statement of 26 April that the plants were hemp. The Mandalay Region chief minister, Zaw Myint Maung, told Radio Free Asia that the permission covered "fiber plants" for one year. The Irrawaddy says the Ministry of Home Affairs found "hemp-like plants believed to have the same content as marijuana". The CCDAC announcement calls the plants marijuana throughout.
Place
The township is written Ngunzun by Radio Free Asia, Myanmar Digital News, AFP and the Associated Press; this news item uses the form Ngazun. The Irrawaddy places the park in "Myinchan District" in 2019 and in "Myingyan Township" in 2020. Radio Free Asia, Myanmar Digital News and the Associated Press give Myingyan District, which the district field follows.
Quantities
The stored plant count is the 349,300 plants that Radio Free Asia and the CCDAC give; the 5,200 seedlings are not added to it. The stored area, 8.09 hectares, is the 20 acres of the plantation converted at 0.4047 hectares to the acre. The Associated Press gives "20-acre (8-hectare)".
Map pin
The pin is the Myotha Industrial Park itself, an event site, at two decimals from its OpenStreetMap outline.
These notes were recorded when the news item was prepared. Éloise 11:43, 20 October 2026 (+07)