Military run Myanmar arrested 445 suspected drug dealers and seized nearly 650 kilograms of opium in September, state media said on Wednesday.

Women accounted for nearly 20 percent of the total arrests, the state run daily New Light of Myanmar said, citing police figures.

Myanmar regularly burns hauls of narcotics in an effort to convince the world that it is cracking down on rampant drug production, but the country remains the world’s second largest opium producer after Afghanistan, and is a major producer of amphetamines.

Police also confiscated more than 478,000 amphetamine tablets and one kilogram of heroin in September, the daily said.

The United States, a vocal critic of Myanmar, has said methamphetamine production in Myanmar is one of the most serious problems facing Southeast Asia.

Much of it is produced in rebel held areas along the borders with China and Thailand, a region where drug gangs operate freely.

China has also pressured Myanmar to crack down on the drug trade. Chinese authorities blame Myanmar narcotrafficking for soaring rates of drug addiction and HIV infection in its Yunnan province.