Bangkok Post(5/8/99)

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Group bids to restore Wa route
Pressure builds as checkpoint closes


Yuwadee Tunyasiri and Subin Khuenkaew


Attempts are being made to lobby for the opening of a new border checkpoint
in Chiang Rai to facilitate trade with methamphetamine-making Wa, the
minister in charge of narcotics suppression said yesterday.

Pressure was being put on authorities to open a crossing at Ban Sanmaket,
30km north of San Ton Du, the checkpoint closed yesterday, said Jurin
Laksanavisit, a PM's office minister.

San Ton Du, in Mae Ai district, Chiang Mai, was closed on the orders of the
National Security Council in an effort to stem the flow of methamphetamines
produced by the United Wa State Army in Shan state.

Mr Jurin declined to say who was lobbying for the opening of Ban Sanmaket,
which leads to a circuitous jungle track to Mong Yawn, the southern command
of the Wa militia.

The governor of Chiang Rai had been informed of the policy against opening
new passes, Mr Jurin said.

Kachadpai Burutpat, the council secretary-general, said San Ton Du had to
be closed to deny drug-producers access to Thailand.

Narcotics officials say the Wa have stepped up amphetamine production
recently to finance construction projects at their Mong Yawn base.

Mr Kachadpai said that between September 1998 and July 1999, Thailand
exported petrol and building materials worth 70 million baht through San
Ton Du to Mong Yawn.

The exports were minor compared to the flood of methamphetamines smuggled
into the kingdom and the social impact in the North, he said.

The Narcotics Control Board said the closure of San Ton Du had followed a
20-day operation by the Third Army which had disrupted the Wa militia's
drug operations in Thailand.

Sorasit Saengprasert, the board's deputy secretary-general, said: "The
closure of San Ton Du has cut off direct links between UWSA drug dealers
and their network in Thailand."Army sources say large-scale infrastructure
work at Mong Yawn, the new headquarters of Wei Hsueh-kang, the most
powerful drug boss in the Golden Triangle, is virtually complete.

About 6,000 Thais are engaged in building projects at Mong Yawn.

Lt-Gen Sommai Vichavorn, the Third Army commander, welcomed the closure of
the checkpoint and said the workers and heavy equipment could be
repatriated even with the border closed.


Local people could still use the temporary crossing in Ban San Ton Du,
particularly women bringing their babies for medical care and to buy food
for the family.

Lt-Gen Sommai said he had not been lobbied about a new checkpoint but
opposed the opening of crossings serving ethnic minority groups in Burma.

"I'm pleased with the results of the recent operation, especially the
decision to close San Ton Du," said Lt-Gen Sommai.

Burmese authorities understood the decision to close San Ton Du. "The
Burmese government itself has admitted that it doesn't have total control
over Mong Yawn," he added.
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Expulsions postponed for 3 months

Foreign workers could be employed in more industries if they are needed,
Labour and Social Welfare Minister Wut Sukosol said.

After a meeting on labour policy, he said the planned expulsion of alien
workers would be postponed for 90 days pending an assessment by provincial
employment offices of jobs shunned by Thais.

Pol Maj Wut said the government had agreed to extend by one year the
employment reprieve which ended yesterday. The number of labour-intensive
industries granted the reprieve could also increase according to local
labour situations.

At present foreign labourers are employed in 18 industries in 37 provinces,
mostly in border areas. Around 86,000 workers were to be retained while
those whose contracts had expired were to be sent home.

Somchai Wattana, the employment department chief, said businesses must
register their alien workers with labour offices and lodge a 1,000 baht
guarantee for each of them.

Nakhon Silpa-archa, the deputy director-general, rejected criticismt the
government exploited alien workers by underpaying them. The law entitled
them to a minimum daily wage equal to that paid to Thais, he said.
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Army offered training to curb menace
Narcotics board says its advice will help


Subin Khuenkaew and Nusara Thaitawat


The Narcotics Control Board has offered to provide Third Army units with
the specialised guidance and equipment they need to stem the inflow of
illicit drugs.

Drug suppression is a new area which requires different skills for the
army, which was assigned the task last year by a prime ministerial order.

Importantly, the army also needs authorisation to carry out suppression
tasks, including searches at checkpoints such as San Ton Du, in Mae Ai
district, Chiang Mai.

An army source said: "Under the law, we are not authorised to search,
unlike the police. All we can do is to watch trucks and people pass us by.
No drugs were ever seized at San Ton Du, not because traffickers did not
use this crossing but because we couldn't search.

"Customs officials check goods that go in but not the empty trucks that
come out," said the officer. "I believe that if we had the power to search
vehicles and people who come out, we would have found drugs."On a practical
level, soldiers there were not trained to search vehicles and people and
lacked the equipment needed to detect drugs. The officer believed most of
the drugs filtered through the porous border between Chiang Mai and Chiang
Rai and Wa-run areas in Shan State as the militia reserved San Ton Du as a

communications channel to the outside world.

"Mong Yawn is the nerve centre for the Wa drug operations, where suppliers
and key members of their extensive network in Thailand come for meetings
and planning," he said.

- ntil the decision to close San Ton Du, the army's many requests for help
had been ignored. It had asked for the Narcotics Control Board to post
specialists at the border, or provide equipment to detect drugs. It had
also asked the police for specialist officers and sniffer dogs.

All it received was guidelines on the physical appearance of suspected
vehicles and couriers.

Sorasit Saengprasert, the board's deputy secretary-general, said: "We are
ready to support the army in its anti-drug efforts, especially in the areas
of training and equipment for detection."Talks had been held on how to
support the army's work, including funds, said Mr Sorasit, and authorities
would discuss the belief that Mong Yawn is a nerve centre for drug
trafficking.
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