In addition, The district is the location of the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone.

A dispute broke out in 1999 over Thai farmers cultivating on district lands and on 25 February 2008 an attack broke out on the Burmese border involving Burmese drug lords.

[3] The district economy and also that of Bokeo Province is now dominated by the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone (GT SEZ) in Ton Pheung District.

[4] In 2007, Kings Romans Group, owned by well-connected Chinese husband and wife Zhao Wei and Su Guiqin, entered into a 99-year lease for 10,000 hectares on the banks of the Mekong.

[5] A robust industry involving trafficking in endangered animals has grown up around the Chinese tourist trade.