Flags flutter on a boat while a delegates from China's Narcotics Control Bureau, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Laos, Myanmar and Thailand travel on an inspection trip on the Mekong river near the border between China, Laos and Myanmar March 1, 2016. Patrols on the Mekong River by the Laotian army and Myanmar police have subdued pirates who once robbed cargo ships with impunity. But drug production and trafficking in the region, known as the Golden Triangle, is booming - despite the presence of Chinese gunboats and Chinese armed police. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimates that Southeast Asia's trade in heroin and methamphetamine was worth $31 billion in 2013. REUTERS/Jorge Silva SEARCH "SILVA MEKONG" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "THE WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES