SCMP-Former Khun Sa fighter declare

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Subject: SCMP-Former Khun Sa fighter declares war on drugs 

South China Morning Post
Wednesday  December 23  1998

Former Khun Sa fighter declares war on drugs
by WILLIAM BARNES in Bangkok

One of former drug warlord Khun Sa's top fighters has declared war on the
Golden Triangle narcotics trade - a slap in the face for the military junta
which lucratively cohabits with traffickers.

Colonel Yord Suk's faction of the Shan State Army, fighting a bitter
guerilla war with Rangoon, may prove a problem for the state's drug
merchants.

"There are 40 heroin factories in the Shan state near the border with
Thailand, opposite Mae Hongson and Chiang Mai provinces," he said at his
hideout at the weekend.

Rangoon officials say they cannot at present crush smugglers and
manufacturers responsible for more than half the world's heroin output.

Critics argue this is at least partly because drug profits help prop up a
shattered economy.