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Consorting with drug traffickers




       Consorting with drug traffickers 
       Posted on 4/5/99

       Source: BKK Post.

       There is great temptation to write off last week's Chiang Mai
province massacre as a case of
       thieves falling out. Senior police officers of Region 5 have
already presented that case.
       Authorities must resist this seductive resolution of one of the
bloodiest crimes in recent Thai
       history. In the first place, it is far too soon to accept such a
convenient explanation. In the
       second, great issues are at stake which transcend the terrible
slaughter. 

       The basic outline of this case are now well known. Last Thursday, a
group of armed men
       rounded up nine Thai villagers from Ban Mae Soon Noi, in a Fang
district forest. They bound
       the hands of the local Thais, and beat and shot them all to death.
Other Thais managed to
       escape the massacre. They and local authorities agree that the
murderers were Wa tribesmen
       from Burma. 

       Region 5 detectives and senior officers claimed that this bloodbath
was the result of a drug deal
       gone awry. According to this version of the story, Ban Mae Soon Noi
and two other nearby
       villages were Thai gateways for drugs-heroin and
amphetamines-produced by the United Wa
       State Army. The villagers allegedly cheated the UWSA out of money
from a drugs sale. The
       massacre was the Wa reprisal for the dishonesty between the two
criminal sides. 

       We have learnt during the past year to be sceptical of such
convenient, comprehensive police
       explanations. Last year, the police explained that six Thais that
their officers killed were all
       notorious drug dealers. Later, it emerged that some of the dead men
were drug suspects and
       some of them were not. That case, which involved the deputy chief
of national police,
       continues to wend its way through the legal system. 

       But even if the rapidly produced theory of the Fang killings proves
true, there are serious
       questions which remain. One of them is why police allowed the drug
traffickers in these three
       well-known drug gateways to continue their peddling of narcotics.
The Region 5 spokesman,
       deputy commander Pol Maj-Gen Nawin Singhaphalin, still has much
explaining to do before
       this case can be closed. 

       Just as important is what the murderous raid says about our western
neighbour and its drugs
       policy. The United Wa State Army exists at the pleasure of the
Burmese government. It
       recently has relocated to the Thai border areas, where the Rangoon
regime has full access.
       Burma tolerates, if not encourages directly, the manufacture and
sale of heroin and
       amphetamines by the UWSA. 

       Burma also, if numerous reports and no plausible denials mean
anything, receives part of the
       drugs income from the Wa traffickers. In any case, Burma has
refused to take any action
       against the United Wa State Army and its drug traffickers. This
implicates Rangoon in the
       deaths of the nine Thai men last week. 

       Rangoon continues to insist that it is committed to a fight against
international drugs
       traffickers. Its actions amount to little more than a series of
public relations exercises. These
       culminated last month in one of the most curious anti-drug
conferences in history. Delegates
       from around the world gathered in Rangoon to discuss how to battle
heroin-less than two
       kilometres from the homes of two of the world's biggest heroin
dealers, Burmese government
       allies Khun Sa and Lo Hsing-han. 

       Consorting with the drug-trafficking UWSA now has left the Burmese
regime's hands bloody
       from the massacre of Thai villagers who may-or may not-have been
drug peddlers. This is why
       it is important for us in Thailand to know the truth of the Fang
murders. The slaughter of the
       nine Thais must be investigated fully. The murderers must be
brought to justice. Burma must
       be responsible for that.