Reuters-Thai police nab elderly Bud

[tinkyi@xxxxxxx]

Subject: Reuters-Thai police nab elderly Buddhist monk with heroin 

Thai police nab elderly Buddhist monk with heroin
05:25 a.m. Mar 24, 1999 Eastern
BANGKOK, March 24 (Reuters) - Police in Thailand's northern Lampun province
have arrested an elderly Buddhist monk and his travelling companion for
trafficking 3.52 kg (7.8 lb) of heroin.

Police said the heroin was found during a routine check of a Bangkok-bound
bus in Lerng Noktha district, about 600 kilometres (365 miles) north of the
capital, late on Tuesday.

Five packs of heroin were found in a bag carried by the monk after he had
acted suspiciously, a Lampun police official told Reuters by telephone.

Another five packets of heroin were found in a box on the lap of the monk's
companion.

The two suspects would be charged with trafficking in heroin, police said.

The monk had admitted he was paid 100,000 baht ($2,600) by an unidentified
man to take the heroin to Bangkok, police said.

The monk had said he needed money to renovate a temple in western Mae Hong
Son town.

Mae Hong Son, which borders Myanmar is regarded as one of the main transit
centres for drugs smuggled from the poppy-growing Golden Triangle which
straddles the borders of Thailand, Myanmar and Laos.

Convicted heroin traffickers face the death penalty, Thailand traditionally
commutes such sentences to life imprisonment.