Sex, Drugs, Guns and COVID-19: Amid Pandemic, Illicit Border Trades Flourish
A joint task force comprising Thai military and police seize a large cache of Chinese-made weapons, which are believed to have been destined for western Myanmar, on June 23, 2020 in Mae Sot, Thailand.
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By The Irrawaddy 11 December 2020
As Myanmar’s COVID-19 cases spiked in July and August, Thai newspapers assured their readers that government agencies were collaborating to step up patrols along the border to prevent illegal crossings. Photographs taken at the time showed well-equipped, heavily armed soldiers and police patrolling the Moei River, which forms the border between Thailand’s Mae Sot and Karen State’s Myawaddy.