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ST-Thai PM blames Yangon (r)



There is so much money and profit in the drug trade, and eager
customers, with official involvement, that the drug problem is going to
get much worse...the french have never attacked rangoon for drug
trafficking, look at Morocco and the late King Hassan II hash trade...
> 
> The Straits Times, JAN 5 2000
> 
>  Drugs: Thai PM blames Yangon
> 
>  Chuan Leekpai hits out at Myanmar's lack
>  of cooperation in stemming the inflow of
>  drugs, alleging that the latest haul comes
>  from Myanmar
> 
>  BANGKOK -- Thai Prime Minister Chuan
>  Leekpai yesterday blamed the Myanmar
>  authorities for soaring drug-addiction
>  rates among youth because of their lack of
>  cooperation in stemming the inflow of
>  illicit drugs.
> 
>  The criticism follows the discovery by
>  police here of two hauls totalling 3.8
>  million amphetamine tablets allegedly
>  manufactured by ethnic Wa insurgents in
>  eastern Myanmar.
> 
>  "I have instructed the national police
>  chief to find more effective measures to
>  intercept drugs as this haul has proved
>  that international cooperation was
>  useless," Mr Chuan told reporters.
> 
>  "From the report it is clear that the drug
>  belongs to the Wa, so the drugs certainly
>  came from outside Thailand," he said.
> 
>  "I have made the observation that the
>  arrests were accidental. How can that
>  quantity of the drugs have slipped past
>  the authorities' eyes."
> 
>  Although Mr Chuan did not directly name
>  Myanmar, Yangon has repeatedly vowed to
>  cooperate with neighbouring Thailand to
>  clamp down on the illicit cross-border
>  trade.
> 
>  Thai Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan
>  received an assurance of cooperation while
>  in Yangon in August at a meeting with
>  powerful junta First Secretary
>  Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt.
> 
>  Thai officials have blamed the United Wa
>  State Army for trafficking hundreds of
>  millions of amphetamine tablets made in
>  jungle laboratories across the border.
> 
>  Critics of the Myanmar regime accuse it of
>  allowing the Wa insurgents to continue
>  trading drugs in return for a ceasefire.
> 
>  Many believe the junta also profits
>  financially from the trade, a charge
>  Yangon's generals deny.
> 
>  Myanmar is one of the world's biggest
>  producers of heroin along with Afghanistan
>  and is accused of hosting hundreds of
>  amphetamine factories along its border
>  with Thailand.
> 
>  Meanwhile, Thailand reportedly has more
>  than 600,000 child drug addicts.
> 
>  Researchers from Chulalongkorn
>  University's Education Centre for the
>  Underprivileged recently found that
>  children made up more than 50 per cent of
>  total drug arrests and up to 80 per cent
>  of cases in the juvenile court related to
>  amphetamines.
> 
>  In Bangkok, amphetamine use is rampant in
>  the slums. In Klong Toey port slum -- home
>  to 100,000 taxi drivers, stall holders,
>  dockers and the unemployed -- amphetamines
>  known as Ya Baa are widely consumed by
>  users who need to stay awake for long
>  working shifts. -- AFP