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IRANIAN drug gangs are turning Asia into a drug-trafficking dystopia, with a new United Nations report showing a threefold increase in methamphetamine seizures in the region last year.

More than 94 million methamphetamine pills were seized by police across the region in 2009, compared with about 32 million in 2008, says a report released yesterday by the regional office of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

The report also suggests that Burma, in particular the eastern Shan State, has become the largest single source of methamphetamine in east and south-east Asia.
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The role of Iranians in the drug networks of Asia is also a growing concern. The report notes that hundreds of Iranians were charged in east and south-east Asia in 2009 for drug trafficking and manufacture.