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BURMA RELATED NEWS - December 29,
2001.
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HEADLINES
----------------------------------------------------------------------- AFP - Myanmar junta frees four political
prisoners
Bkk Post - No hopes
for Burma's full co-operation against Wei
Bkk Post - IN BRIEF -
School for twins
Bkk Post - More troops
mobilised as battles rage
Bkk Post - Wei loses another bundle in twin
raids
Bkk Post - EDITORIAL -
Taking a tough line with refugees
Bkk Post - BURMA - Troops march against
Shan
Bkk Post - Police investigating link to
warlord's gang
The Nation - We'll take Wei dead or alive -
Thaksin
Xinhuanet - Myanmar Exposes 189 Drug-Related
Cases in November
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday December 29, 11:38 AM Myanmar junta frees four political prisoners (AFP) Myanmar's ruling junta has released four political prisoners from democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD). The military regime said in a statement late Friday that the four party
members -- all women -- were freed from various prisons, bringing the total
number of releases for the year to 202.
The released were named as Khin Kyi Kyi, Tin Tin Aye, Khin Aye Cho and Khin
Soe Win, according to the statement.
"This afternoon four members of the NLD party were released from various
correctional facilities," it said. "They are all in good health and back
together with their respective families."
Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who has been under house
arrest since September 2000, began secret talks aimed at "national
reconciliation" with the military government more than a year ago.
Analysts say the talks have reached a near standstill.
Western countries, international activist groups and Myanmar's democratic
opposition have demanded the release of an estimated 1,500 political prisoners,
of whom about 800 are NLD members, still held in Myanmar's jails.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - Dec 29,
2001.
No hopes for Burma's full co-operation
against Wei
Thaksin says peace efforts may hinder drug baron's
capture
Yuwadee Tunyasiri
Burma's efforts to make peace with minority rebels may prevent it from
helping Thailand capture drug baron Wei Hsueh-kang, the prime minister said
yesterday.
Thaksin Shinawatra said Rangoon's full co-operation could not be expected
despite improved ties between the two countries, because Burma would have to put
national reconciliation above anything else.
Wei, 55, an ethnic Wa-Haw and possibly the world's biggest drug trafficker,
is wanted both in Thailand and the United States.
Years ago, he was arrested in Thailand, convicted for drug trafficking and
sentenced to death. However, he was granted bail during appeal and escaped to
Burma.
Wei joined the United Wa State Army, a minority rebel group, in Mong Yawn,
a major methamphetamine producer located across the border opposite Chiang Mai's
Mae Ai district.
The UWSA and the Burmese government had developed ``good relations''.
Mr Thaksin said Thailand could not get everything it wanted from a country
striving to live together in peace with various minority forces.
Burma had to be careful not to turn the minorities into its foes and had to
try to forge an alliance with them all, Mr Thaksin said.
``Burma can help us only to a certain extent,'' he said.
Bangkok, meanwhile, would have to continue improving its ties with
Rangoon.
``If our friend makes a thief his friend, will we give him up?'' Mr Thaksin
said.
Thai authorities are hunting down Wei, whose assets worth 100 million baht
in Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai were seized on Wednesday as they were
suspected to have been acquired through drug money.
``We want him, dead or alive,'' the prime minister said.
Mr Thaksin claimed Thai authorities ``knew every move'' of Wei.
The premier said Wei was still in Mong Yawn. However, the government could
not ask Burma to send Wei to Thailand because there was no extradition agreement
between them, he said.
Mr Thaksin said drug prevention and suppression remained the government's
top priority.
He said Thailand had already increased its co-operation in anti-drug
campaigns with China, Laos and Burma.
The four nations would meet either in March or April to assess their
progress, he said.
The government, Mr Thaksin said, would be more softer on drug users but
tougher against traffickers.
It would stress cure, not punishment, for drug users who would be
considered patients.
Traffickers, on the other hand, would face the death penalty.
``Some drug dealers even killed themselves to avoid being executed,'' Mr
Thaksin said.
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Bangkok Post - Dec 29,
2001.
IN BRIEF - School for twins
Twin Karen brothers who led the God's Army ethnic rebels will be sent to
school at a refugee camp in Kanchanaburi while awaiting word on asylum.
Maj-Gen Mana Prachakjit, commander of the 9th Infantry Division, said
Johnny and Luther Htoo, along with their parents, sister and 20 relatives had
been moved to Ban Ton Yang shelter in Kanchanaburi's Sangkhla Buri
district.
The 15-year-old twin brothers and ten relatives were waiting for word from
Washington on whether they would be allowed to stay in the US, he said.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - Dec 29,
2001.
More troops mobilised as battles rage
Protection for villages ahead of refugee flood
Supamart Kasem
Troop reinforcements have been sent to protect border villages in Tha Song
Yang district as clashes between Burmese soldiers and Karen National Union (KNU)
rebels continued.
Heavy shelling in KNU-dominated areas have forced some 400 villagers to
flee across the border into Thailand at Ban Nong Bua, in tambon Mae Song.
Thai troop reinforcements and artillery have been mobilised by the 13th
Infantry Regiment Task Force to guard the Moei border river to prevent
incursions.
Capt Thein Dan, a KNU officer, said Burma's 339th Light Infantry Regiment
and the pro-Rangoon Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) attacked the
KNU-controlled Leberher village on Wednesday.
The surprise attack sent some 500 villagers fleeing for safety. More than
half had gone into hiding in the forest, while the rest, mostly women, children
and the elderly, crossed into Ban Nong Bua.
The KNU mounted a defence and ambushed Rangoon soldiers. The ensuing
firefight continued throughout Wednesday before the Burmese and DKBA forces
retreated back to Hill 1248, their stronghold a few kilometres southwest of
Leberher.
A second wave of refugees streamed into Ban Nong Bua yesterday morning
after the DKBA launched a fresh attack in a bid to gain access to
Leberher.
Two of the DKBA attackers were injured by a landmine, prompting a new round
of artillery exchange between the two sides.
A medical unit at Tha Son Yang was sent to treat the refugees, with more
than half suffering from influenza and diarrhoea.
The refugees were being sheltered at Ban Hua Plu school and cared for by
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Burma Border Consortium,
and the Thai Red Cross.
Capt Thein Dan, of the KNU's 22nd Battalion, said the clash was triggered
by a failed negotiation over a logging business between Rangoon and the KNU. One
of the investors was a Thai, the Karen officer said.
A Leberher village leader was reportedly captured by DKBA.troops. His fate
remained unknown yesterday.
Tha Song Yang district chief Anuchit Songkao said that if the fighting
across the border dragged on, the refugees might be moved to the Mae La
camp.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - Dec 29,
2001.
Wei loses another bundle in twin
raids
B100m taken from two northern houses for laundering
probe
Teerawat Kumtita
Another 100 million baht worth of assets have been seized from two houses
with suspected connections to drug kingpin Wei Hsueh-kang.
Local police and officials confiscated cash, jewellery, gold and cars worth
around 40 million baht and title deeds worth more than 60 million baht in a
house raid in Mae Sai district yesterday.
House owner Thana Asawasukhon and his wife Rattana did not resist.
Later, the same team raided a nearby house owned by Nauvarat
Prueksaphanthawee and his wife Arunee and seized gold and jewellery worth about
three million baht. Chiang Rai police chief Pol Maj-Gen Wut Withitanont said the
owners of both houses were suspected members of a drug gang run by the fugitive
Wei Hsueh-kang.
The seized items would be examined in Bangkok by officials for signs of
money laundering.
A source said leaflets were distributed in Muang Chiang Mai Municipality on
Feb 10 last year alleging that Mr Thana was a major dealer in
methamphetamines.
The man has two wives from the Prueksaphanthawee family.
He owns many businesses including restaurants, petrol stations, housing
estates, markets, fruit orchards and transport firms in Chiang Mai and Chiang
Rai.
On Wednesday, Wei's assets, held in the names of relatives and mistresses,
were seized in raids on eight premises in Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Chiang
Rai.
The assets were worth about 100 million baht. Some 45 million baht in 100
bank accounts was also frozen.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - Dec 29,
2001.
EDITORIAL - Taking a tough line with
refugees It was a disturbing year-end for the mostly youthful Burmese at Maneeloy
who were put on army trucks and packed off to a camp they see as too close to
the border for comfort.
But the move had been on the cards since students at the centre in Pak Tho
district of Ratchaburi were found to have taken part in the sieges at the
Burmese embassy in Bangkok in October 1999, and a hospital in Ratchaburi three
months later.
The then Chuan Leekpai government drew Rangoon's ire by using velvet gloves
to deal with the so-called ``student warriors'' who raided the embassy, allowing
them free passage to the border in exchange for the safety of hostages.
But the government reacted decisively to the attack on the hospital the
following January, by allowing commandos to kill the perpetrators.
The Chuan government also asked the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees to expedite third-country resettlement for the ex-Burmese students and
new homes indeed were found for 2,200 of them over the past two years, with the
United States and Australia topping the list of 10 countries which agreed to
play host.
But the government, whose prime minister held out against visiting Rangoon,
stopped short of closing Maneeloy.
And it was no accident that the more Rangoon-friendly government of Prime
Minister Thaksin Shinawatra accomplished the final act of closing the centre,
thereby making clear its disapproval of Burmese dissidents.
Mr Thaksin's visit to Rangoon in June, which struck a harmonious chord with
the generals there, the longstanding friendliness of Defence Minister Chavalit
Yongchaiyudh with members of the ruling junta, and the hardline attitude of
Interior Minister Purachai Piumsombun _ all helped towards this end. Maneeloy's
demise was also brought forward by the complications it picked up over the
years.
Towards the end, the centre did not only hold 197 Burmese refugees awaiting
resettlement in third countries, but also 170 ``persons of concern'' who enjoy
UNHCR protection but are yet to be accepted for resettlement, and about 100
illegal aliens who face deportation.
About 400 people took part in the transfer on Thursday to Ban Tham Hin in
Suan Phung district, also in Ratchaburi. They were mainly refugees and ``people
of concern''.
Only 20 of the illegals turned up for the evacuation, the rest fleeing
elsewhere for fear of deportation. The evacuees will join some 8,000 mainly
Karen refugees already living at Ban Tham Hin.
Maneeloy is due to become a vocational training centre for local villagers,
who had blamed the centre's residents for crime in their neighbourhood.
Set up in 1992, Maneeloy was meant for students who fled Rangoon's
crackdown on a pro-democracy uprising in 1988.
The UNHCR assisted the running of the centre, which provided
English-language lessons, computer and other vocational training meant to equip
the young refugees with skills for new lives in the West.
Though political activities were banned, the ex-students found loopholes
and Maneeloy soon became a magnet for Burmese dissidents.
The closure of Maneeloy confirms this government's hardening position and
wish to deter new arrivals. It repatriated 63 Karen refugees last month, and
resisted a European Union call to admit nearly 800 refugees living on the edge
of conflict inside Burma
With 108,000 displaced Burmese on its hands, Thailand has some reason to
discourage more to come.
But Thailand 20 years ago sheltered three times as many Cambodians until
their country found peace. It, therefore, must stand by its commitment to give
refuge to Burmese people, whose lives are threatened by armed conflict.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - Dec 29,
2001.
BURMA - Troops march against
Shan
Offer of peace talks turned down again
Subin Khuenkaew
Hundreds of Burmese troops were reportedly marching south in what appeared
to be a drive against the Shan State Army's stronghold in Burma.
A border source said about 1,000 heavily-armed Burmese soldiers were seen
moving past the towns of Teuh and Tha.
They were probably heading for two villages near Doi Tai Lang, where Col
Chao Yodsuek, the SSA leader, had his base, the source said.
Doi Tai Lang is opposite Mae Hong Son's Pang Ma Pha district.
More than 400 Burmese men had been sent to repair a road linking Burma's
Tachilek border town with Ban Pang Noon near Doi Khor Wan, another SSA
stronghold, he said.
Military trucks and at least six armoured tanks had left Ban Tha Dua, north
of Tachilek, and might join a group of Burmese soldiers at Ban Na Yao to attack
SSA troops at Doi Kor Wan.
Two weeks earlier, Col Chao Yodsuek wrote to Burmese military leaders
seeking ceasefire talks.
However, the SSA leader said Rangoon had shown no interest in talks,
despite his six requests for negotiations in the past two years.
Col Chao Yodsuek said he was ready for a ceasefire or a prolonged fight,
while Rangoon said it wanted the SSA to surrender without condition.
Rangoon was reported to have told Bangkok that border and drug problems
could be solved with the departure of drug warlord Wei Hsueh-kang and the SSA
rebels from the Thai-Burmese border areas.
The same source said there was a possibility of Col Chao Yodsuek stepping
down as the SSA chief, although he would remain its military leader.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - Dec 29,
2001.
Huge speed bust may point to drug base in Thailand
Police investigating link to
warlord's gang
Chiang Rai police have arrested three suspects and seized one million
methamphetamine tablets and three tonnes of caffeine, which is used to produce
speed pills.
Pol Gen Sant Sarutanont, the police chief, yesterday expressed concern at
the size of the drug seizures, saying it could mean a drug production base had
been established in Thailand.
He said the three tonnes of caffeine could be used to produce up to 30
million speed pills.
The police chief said the arrests were made after police searched three
pick-up trucks bound for Bangkok.
He said 490,000 speed pills were allegedly found in the pick-up truck of
suspect Nakhon Kasuya during a search on Thursday at a checkpoint in Mae Chan
district.
Three tonnes of caffeine was allegedly found in a second pick-up truck
searched on a road near Mae Khong river on Thursday.
However, the driver and passengers managed to escape.
Police yesterday searched a pick-up truck in Mae Suai district and
allegedly found 510,000 speed pills. Sanek Singhanart, 23, and Anant Promluang,
29, who were in the pick-up truck, were arrested.
Pol Gen Sant said police were trying to find out if the suspects were
members of drug warlord Wei Hsueh-kang's gang.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- The Nation
We'll take Wei dead or alive - Thaksin Published on Dec 29, 2001 Thailand will capture drug warlord Wei Xieu-kang dead or alive, Prime
Minister Thaksin Shinawatra vowed yesterday.
Thaksin, who has declared war on narcotics said Thai authorities would step
up the hunt for 49-year-old Wei, who is now hiding in the Burmese town of Mong
Yawn and is also wanted in the United States.
"We will take him dead or alive," said the PM, adding that intelligence
reports clearly showed he was now in Mong Yawn, a town adjacent to Chiang Rai
province.
He conceded it would not be an easy task as Burma would find it difficult
to cooperate with the arrest, as Mong Yawn is not under the control of Rangoon's
military junta.
"Burma has its own problems with minority groups and gives priority to
these issues. It can cooperate with Thailand on one level, but it has to also
think about its own security too," he said.
Moreover, Thailand could not seek the extradition of Wei because the
countries do not have such a treaty.
Thai police on Thursday seized property, bank accounts and jewellery worth
more than Bt100 million from Wei's luxury homes on Ratchadapisek Road, Chatuchak
district.
Wei, leader of the United Wa State Army, jumped bail in Thailand in 1990.
He is considered a major producer of amphetamines that are sold locally and
smuggled to Western countries.
He was sentenced to life imprisonment in absentia by a Thai court in 1994
for assisting in the trafficking of 615 kilograms of heroin from the Kingdom.
He also faces drug-trafficking charges in the US, where there is a
US$2-million (Bt90 million) reward for his arrest. Wei was born in China and
given Thai nationality, which was revoked in July.
Meanwhile, PM's Office Minister General Thamarak Isarangura said that
Thailand could now prevent Wei and his network from using its territory to
launder illegal money.
He added that Thailand had coordinated with the US to locate Wei and
eliminate his network.
Police yesterday opened steel safes seized from Wei's houses and found
large number of valuable items, including 1.5 kg of gold necklaces as well as
diamond rings. Police said each shelf in the safes had the names of Wei's
children attached.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar Exposes 189 Drug-Related
Cases in November
Xinhuanet 2001-12-29 11:21:31 YANGON, December 29 (Xinhuanet)
-- The Myanmar authorities exposed a total of 189 narcotic-drug-related cases in
November this year, seizing 6.06 kilograms (kg) of opium and 25.72 kg of heroin,
according to the Myanmar Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control Saturday.
During the month, the authorities punished 266 people -- 227 men and 39
women -- for being involved in the case, it said.
Official statistics show that during the first half of this year, the
authorities exposed a total of 1,536 drug-related cases, seizing 474.91 kg of
opium, 27.89 kg of heroin, 8,371 kg of marijuana, 6.14 million tablets of
stimulant drugs, 1,889 kg of ephedrine and 269.28 liters of phensedyl and
punishing 2,187 drug offenders.
Myanmar began in 1999 implementing a 15-year drug eradication plan
following the declaration of its Mongla region in eastern Shan state as an
opium-free zone in April 1997.
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