NEWS - Thailand, Myanmar to Meet on

[BurmaJapan@xxxxxxx]

Thailand, Myanmar to Meet on Drug Suppression

               Xinhua
               18-NOV-97

               BANGKOK (Nov. 19) XINHUA - Thai and Myanmar
               authorities will work out drugs suppression
               measures when they meet in Chiang Rai, northern
               Thailand, next month, according to the Narcotics
               Control Board (ONCB) of Thailand. 

               Thai government representatives and their
               counterparts from Myanmar will meet on December
               12 to discuss the problem of drugs and precursor
               smuggling for the second time this year. 

               Meeting organizers are the U.N. Drug Control
               Program (UNDCP) and the ONCB. 

               An ONCB official was quoted today by the local
               press as saying Thailand has been successful in
               suppressing drugs at a certain level with support
               from UNDCP experts and cooperation from
               Myanmar and Laos, but he conceded that the more
               serious drug suppression measures are, the harder
               drug dealers would seek new methods of smuggling.

               Meanwhile, a policeman and two drug traffickers
               were killed in northern Thailand in a shoot-out at a
               checkpoint on a road between Chiang Mai's Mae Ai
               District and Chinagrai's Mae Chan Tuesday,
               according to a report reaching here today. 

               Police said the gun battle erupted after a border
               patrol police unit manning the checkpoint tried to
               stop a pickup truck for a routine check.