Burmese arrest 481 for drug offense

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Subject: Burmese arrest 481 for drug offense in June


	Burmese arrest 481 for drug offense in June
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 12.56 p.m. EDT (1656 GMT) July 21, 1997

 BANGKOK, Thailand (AP)  Burmese authorities arrested 481 people
 last month on drug charges, part of a stepped-up effort against
 trafficking, the government said Monday. 

 Narcotics police also seized 359 pounds of opium, 42 pounds of
 heroin, 59 pounds of marijuana and 35,000 amphetamine tablets,
 the military government reported. 

 Burma is the world's largest producer of opium and its derivative,
 heroin. Production of the drugs has increased in recent years,
 despite a government crackdown. 

 Last month, officials publicly burned more than a ton of narcotics
 that had been seized between January 1996 and February 1997.
 During the same period, authorities arrested 7,345 people  nearly
 all low-level traffickers. 

(21 July 1997, FOXNews)

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	News and Information Dept.
	All Burma Students' Democratic Organisation (ABSDO) [Australia]
	Tel/Fax: 61+03+98132613

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