Bangkok Post(20/6/99)

[mandalay@xxxxxxxxxx]

<center><bold><color><param>ffff,0000,0000</param>Seven held with 74,000
pills smuggled in from Burma</color>=20

</bold></center>

Narcotics police arrested an army pilot, a Border Patrol policeman, two
Burmese nationals and three other Thais for allegedly colluding in the
cross-border shipment of 74,000 amphetamine pills here yesterday.


Police said three of the seven suspects were caught shortly after
crossing the border en route to a temple in tambon Thasailuat, where they
allegedly intended to hand the drugs to the other four suspects.


Police identified the three as Sgt Paiboon Saenthawee, who is attached to
the Lop Buri-based Army Aviation Centre, and two Burmese nationals: Aung
Wei and Kyaw Htu.


The other four suspects were arrested later while travelling in a car,
allegedly to receive the drugs from the three.


Police identified the four as Pol Sgt-Maj Pratuan Muangmai, who is
attached to a Mae Sot-based BPP unit, Suchart Sitthiphan, Annop Klintawee
and Banlue Suphan.


Police said they had been tipped off that the group would smuggle the
drugs from Burma into Thailand and had sent a unit to lay in wait.


The 74,000 amphetamine tablets were found in the pick-up truck the first
three suspects were travelling in, police said.

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<center><bold><color><param>ffff,0000,0000</param>Time for Burma to be
cooperative=20

</color></bold></center><color><param>ffff,0000,0000</param>

</color>There is much to criticise in the way our authorities approach,
and conduct, the very important job of combatting the drug traffickers.
But the reality is that our efforts cannot be ultimately successful
because of one of our neighbours. Laos, Cambodia and of course Malaysia
all are committed to fighting narcotics kingpins. Alone among our
neighbours, Burma continues to stand out as a problem.


Interior Minister Sanan Kachornprasart made this point last week. He was
leading senior government officials on an inspection tour of the lower
six provinces of the North.


He claimed that the government's drug suppression campaign in the area
was successful-up to a point. Without Burmese cooperation, he said,
Thailand cannot ultimately succeed in eliminating either drugs nor those
who sell them.



In fairness, Maj-Gen Sanan is a politician. He also is a senior spokesman
for the government-and the government has made little headway against
drug traffickers in recent months. Drug sales are up, drug use by our
youth is increasing.


In addition, his National Narcotics Operation Centre has become locked in
an unseemly, distasteful bureaucratic conflict with the Office of
Narcotics Control Board. The ONCB, after years as the nation's
uncorruptable anti-drug leaders, suddenly finds itself fighting for
survival, scarce funds and human resources with Maj-Gen Sanan's
policemen. It is yet another sign that the government anti-drug policy is
off the track.


After all of this, however, the fact remains that Thailand has become the
main victim of drug trafficking gangs which are based in Burma. Worse,
the main peddlers of both heroin and amphetamines almost unbelievably
have good relations with the Burmese junta. For reasons of political and
economic expediency, the Burmese dictators are cooperating with the main
drug gangs, both in Rangoon and up-country.


The United Wa State Army, for starters, has been given the green light by
Rangoon to do pretty much what it wants in northern Burma.


This group has been commandeered by a gang of drug traffickers. In return
for not attacking the Burmese army, and for suppressing separatist
sentiment, the UWSA leaders are allowed to make, sell, smuggle and profit
from narcotics. The millions of amphetamines the group makes mostly come
to Thailand. Army Commander Gen Surayud Chulanont last week said that our
open border with the UWSA put Thailand at risk.


Maj-Gen Sanan, to be sure, should be doing a far better job of policing
the border with the Wa. The group ordered the brutal murders of nine Thai
villagers last month-and probably carried out the massacre as well. The
number of drug smugglers caught at the border is a black mark on the law
enforcement abilities of our interior ministry. But the fact remains that
if Burmese authorities were doing their duty instead of cooperating with
murderers and drug traffickers, life would be better in both countries.


The government has identified drug trafficking as the number one threat
to Thai national security. The source of the heaviest flow of incoming
drugs and the region's top traffickers is well known. The question
remains, then, why our authorities refuse to confront Burma with hard
questions.


Maj-Gen Sanan has correctly identified the problem. We cannot make
significant inroads against drugs or trafficking so long as our neighbour
tolerates or supports narcotics peddling on its territory. There is no
sign of cooperation from Burma. The shame is that there is no sign that
our authorities are trying to convince Burma it is in their own interest
to move against their violent, criminal friends in the drug business.

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