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AFP-Thai army targets northern vill



Subject: AFP-Thai army targets northern villages on drugs sweep

Thai army targets northern villages on drugs sweep
BAAN SANTISUK, Thailand, July 21 (AFP) - Thai soldiers on Wednesday
intensified an anti-narcotics operation in part of the Golden Triangle opium
zone after officials vowed "no more compromise" with drug lords.
Teams of soldiers went from house to house at Baan Santisuk village in
northern Thailand close to the Myanmar border, compiling a census on home
owners and occupants.

"This operation will help with security along the border including drugs and
amphetamines," said Colonel Sawasdikrataithong, chief of staff of the army
division in Chiang Rai, 800 kilometres (500 miles) north of Bangkok.

"Although this operation will not stamp it out entirely it will lessen drug
smuggling," he said.

The house to house operation was the first stage of a combined military and
police operation in areas considered the front-line of the battle with drugs
traffickers.

Smuggling gangs, suspected of being based with the Wa ethnic minority army
across the border in Myanmar, are prime trafficking suspects and have been
accused by Thailand of violating its sovereignty.

House checks will be carried out along a 100 kilometre (62 miles) stretch of
the Myanmar border, the colonel said.

Owners of mostly wooden and thatched houses in the mainly ethnic Chinese
village were questioned and asked how many people lived in their homes.

Witnesses said however that the village was unusually quiet, as if there had
been advance notice of the army's arrival.

The village is suspected of harbouring many illegal immigrants and of having
links with the drugs trade which thrives along the border with Myanmar,
considered as one of the world's largest suppliers of heroin.

Security officials said last week they would make "no more compromise" with
drug lords as they announced the start of the sweep.

Narcotics smugglers risk being shot on sight in an operation involving 800
officers, backed by air and artillery support along the border in Chiang Mai
and Chiang Rai provinces.

The area forms part of the notorious Golden Triangle opium growing region
which also includes parts of Myanmar and Laos.


Thai officials have accused Myanmar authorities of failing to adequately
control border areas. They say roofs of amphetamine factories are clearly
visible from the Thai side.

Myanmar has also been repeatedly criticised by the United States and the
international community for allegedly allowing rebellious ethnic minorities
to run drug operations in return for ceasefire agreements.

Recent Thai efforts to eradicate poppy fields have resulted in a dramatic
upsurge in amphetamine production in the Golden Triangle.

Cheap amphetamines, known in Thailand as "ya ba" (crazy drug), have flooded
Thai towns and cities and led to a rapid rise in addiction, crime and
violence especially among young people.

The area has been the scene of a number of recent firefights between Thai
security forces and drug runners in recent months and is on the US
government's list of unsafe areas for officials and tourists.

Thai special forces ambushed a gang of armed drug traffickers in Chiang Mai
this month as they returned from Myanmar with a stash of amphetamines,
killing two and recovering more than a million pills.

Several weeks earlier police shot dead seven men in a gun fight in Chiang
Rai, finding an estimated one million amphetamine tablets.