Thai police display packages of crystal methamphetamine seized in Bangkok on January 24, 2023. (Credit: Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP/Getty Images/FILE)

(CNN) -- Synthetic drug trafficking in Asia is reaching "extreme levels": criminal groups are establishing new drug trafficking routes to evade a crackdown by authorities and methamphetamine prices are reaching new lows, according to a new report released Friday.

Research by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) found that methamphetamine seizures in East and Southeast Asia, which rose to record levels during the pandemic as cartels switched to larger, riskier bulk shipments, returned to pre-COVID-19 pandemic numbers last year.

But other key indicators such as arrests, street availability, purity, as well as low wholesale and street prices, "indicate that supply has remained very high or unchanged," the UN report says.

And as border closures and travel restrictions from the pandemic began to be lifted, international criminal organizations began to reconnect, with "patterns of late 2022 and early 2023 that began to resemble those of 2019," said Jeremy Douglas, UNODC Regional Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

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There are other signs that drug trafficking is recovering. Japan's customs officials saw an increase in methamphetamine smuggling from air passengers in the second half of 2022, after the country reopened its borders. West African trafficking networks in East and Southeast Asia, which "virtually disappeared" during the pandemic, have now resumed their activities, according to the report.

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"The most powerful regional trafficking networks can operate with a high degree of certainty that they can do so and will not be stopped and, as a result, can dictate market terms and conditions," the report warned.

Some countries have stepped up their anti-trafficking efforts in recent years. Stricter enforcement in southwest China's Yunnan province and along Thailand's border with Myanmar resulted in a significant drop in methamphetamine seizures in China and a slight decrease in Thailand.

But, in turn, traffickers have adapted to "try to circumvent what governments do," Douglas said.

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Andaman Traffic

Asia's drug cartels generate billions of dollars through the global narcotics trade while generating a fraction of the attention of their counterparts in Latin and Central America, in part because they keep a much lower profile and are less prone to episodes of internal war.

For years, most regional methamphetamine production has taken place in the jungles of the Golden Triangle, a remote area where the borders of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet that has long been one of the world's top narcotics hubs.

The closely monitored area still sees large volumes of drugs passing through, but criminal groups are increasingly turning to western sea routes, diverting supplies through central Myanmar to the Andaman Sea, "where it seems few were looking," Douglas said.

From Myanmar, methamphetamine and other synthetic drugs then travel to the rest of the world, with shipments previously found as far away as Japan, New Zealand and Australia. South Asia is also entering this market more, with methamphetamine transported in "large volumes" from Myanmar to Bangladesh and northeast India, according to the report.

Despite government crackdowns and increased seizures, wholesale and street prices of methamphetamine fell to record lows across the region in 2022, a sign that, according to the report, large supplies of drugs continued to arrive uninterrupted. He also pointed to the high number of drug-related arrests, and admissions to drug treatment centers, as further evidence of a robust trade.

Other UNODC findings in recent years have painted a picture of a booming drug industry in Asia despite the pandemic, with some drug cartels taking advantage of distracted governments struggling to contain the virus and enforce public health measures.

Organized crime groups have also capitalized on political instability, such as the 2021 military coup in Myanmar and the ongoing conflict in the country, which has turned the country's already lawless border regions into an even more ideal production and smuggling hub.

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Increased Ketamine

In addition to methamphetamine, ketamine production and trafficking is also increasing rapidly in the region, with authorities seizing 27.4 tons of the powerful dissociative anesthetic often used as a party drug.

That figure is 167 per cent higher than the previous year, according to the UNODC report. Almost all countries and territories in the region reported increased seizures except Japan and Hong Kong.

"The ketamine situation in the region reflects in many ways the supply-side approach used to expand the methamphetamine market in the mid-2010s," said Inshik Sim, UNODC's regional coordinator for synthetic drugs, in a press release.

"That said, information on ketamine use is limited and it's not clear how widespread it is; Research is urgently needed."

Cambodia, long a transportation hub, has also begun to emerge as a key location for drug manufacturing, with authorities uncovering a number of secret industrial-scale ketamine labs, storage facilities and processing warehouses.

The chemicals and equipment found in these labs point to an expanding international network, originating from or transiting from at least 12 different countries and provinces, according to the report. For example, chemicals produced in France with Vietnamese writing were found on the packaging; other substances came from Poland, India, Indonesia and South Korea.

The large number of chemicals found also point to a boom in ketamine production. Cambodian authorities seized 518 tons of chemicals in 2022, compared to just 5 tons in 2020, alarming international and regional leaders.

Drug trafficking