"Burma burns more narcotics"

[south@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Reply-To: south@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (SAFHR KATHMANDU)

Burma burns more narcotics
The Rising Nepal, Kathmandu, July 18, 1997

Rangoon, July 17(AFP): Burmese authorities have publicly torched more
drugs as part od a campaign to destroy the huge narcotics trade in the
region, the official press reported Thursday.

Over 21 Kg(46 Pounds) of heroine and 1,723 pounds of opium were destroyd
Wednesday in the Kokang region of northern Shan state, the
Englisg-language New Light of Myanmar said.  The drugs fire was organised by
regional leader Phon Kya Shin, a former narcotics king who stuck a ceasefire
with the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council(SLORC) in 1989, the
report said.  Between 1991 and 1996, over 414 pounds of heroine, nearly 251
pounds of opium and large amounts of chemicals used in the manufacturing of
drugs had been voluntarily destroyed, Phon Kya Shin was quoted as saying.
Some 4,400 acres of poppy plantations had also been put to torch, he said,
adding the latest burning was the seventh public destruction of seized
drugs in the Kokang region, which is aspring to be opium-free by 2000.

Phon Kya Shin also said legal action had been taken against 16 drugs
offender and 675 usere while over 1,500 addicts had received treatment.

Burma, Laos and Thailand from the so-called Golden Triangle, a lush
hothouse of poppy cultivation--- often the only source of income for
poverty-stricken farmers and the origin of the majority of the world's
heroin and opium.

A US narcotics control report issued in March said seizures had increased
at a high rate in the last few years, but accounted for a small
percentage of total production.

The report also said that ceasefire agreements between the ruling junta in
Rangoon and ethnic armies such as Kokang group and United Wa State
Army(UWSA) had in fact allowed them to continue trafficking with a little
interference.

China and Burma have agreed to enhance co-operation in the battle against
drugs, singing another anti-drugs agreement Monday during a visit to
Rangoon by Bai Jingfu, deputy director of the Chinese Narcotics Control
Commission.

Burma and China singed another agreement with the UN Drug Control
Programme in Bangkok lasw week, proposing alternative developments to
opiun and an opium crop monitoring programme in areas controlled by the
UWSA.

At Thursday's burning, minister of border area development General Maung
Tint said cooperation between the military, local residents and law
enforcement agencies had met with success in the campaign against drugs.

He praised the Sino-Burmese agreement, noting that local administration
were now able to exchange information and views with their Chinese
couterparts as well as hand over a great number of criminals.
" Under the circumstances, culprits have little chance of escaping over
the border," he was quoted by the new Light of Myanmar as saying.