The Nation-Bid to stem drugs from B

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Subject: The Nation-Bid to stem drugs from Burma, Laos

The Nation Aug 11, 1999.
Headlines
Bid to stem drugs from Burma, Laos

SENIOR Thai narcotics officers will hold separate meetings with their
counterparts from Laos and Burma to discuss ways of curbing the flow of
drugs entering the Kingdom from the two countries, a senior officer said
yesterday.

Office of the Narcotic Control Board secretary-general Payont Pansri said
Thai officials would meet Burma's chief of police next Monday in the
southern province of Ranong and Lao officials on Aug 22 in Savannakhet, a
central Lao province adjacent to Thailand's Mukdahan.

Drug trafficking had become more rampant along the nation's northeastern
border, especially around Loei province, as traders shifted their production
bases following a fierce crackdown by the police, said Permpong Chaovalit,
director of the ONCB's northeastern branch.

More than 200 police officers in Loei province had been dispatched to tackle
the flow of illicit drugs from neighbouring Laos, Permpong said.

An estimated 600,000 amphetamine tablets and three to four tonnes of
marijuana enters the country through the Loei border checkpoint on a monthly
basis, said the officer. About two million methamphetamines tablets were
flooding the northeastern provinces each month, he said.

Pichai said traffickers had employed various tactics to confuse authorities,
including hiring smugglers to carry small amount of drugs across the border
at any one time.

According to the police commissioner of the Fourth Region, Pol Gen Pichai
Sunthornsajjaboon, a number of local politicians are suspected of being
involved in the illicit business.

Meanwhile, Payont's deputy, Sorasit Sangprasert, has sent a letter to a Hong
Kong-based weekly magazine dismissing a recent report that quoted another
narcotics officer as saying that 20 Thai politicians are involved in the
drugs trade, a foreign ministry source said.

A recent edition of AsiaWeek quoted Pinyo Thongchai, a senior officer at the
ONCB's northern office, as saying 20 Thai politicians were involved in drug
trafficking but could not be arrested because the authorities lacked
evidence.

Deputy secretary-general Sorasit insisted Pinyo was misquoted and sent a
letter to the magazine to disclaim the story, according to the source who
wished to remain anonymous.

Sorasit stated in the letter that the term ''politician'' was not
appropriate as it could refer to officials at the local level.

The article has prompted the foreign ministry to issued a statement
highlighting the country's efforts to combat the drugs trade. The statement,
issued yesterday, pointed to the country's money laundering law which will
become effective this month.

The Nation