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Bangkok Post (27/7/99)



Call for Burma to help enforce drug crackdown along border
Thailand shifting blame, says junta

Thailand yesterday called for close co-operation from Burma and urged it to
honour a pledge by their leaders to crack down on the drug problem along
their common border.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sukhumbhand Paribatra said the Burmese government
should demonstrate its willingness to co-operate with Thailand in a bid to
stop the influx of speed pills. Authorities have seized 18 million tablets
in the past six months.

His call came in the wake of a comment by a senior officer for the National
Narcotics Operation Centre that the Burmese government was backing the
United Wa State Army, a main producer of the drug.

M.R. Sukhumbhand remained cautious about the report, saying that accusing
Burma of direct involvement was a "very serious step" and "unless we have
evidence, we will not and can not do so".

"The best way for the Burmese government to show its sincerity is to
co-operate with us closely," M.R. Sukhumbhand said.

The deputy minister was referring to a pledge by Burmese Prime Minister
Than Shwe and Premier Chuan Leekpai at their March summit in Chiang Rai,
where the two leaders vowed to step up narcotics suppression along the border.

The two leaders also agreed to set up a joint body comprising narcotics
authorities and officials involved to suppress the problem.

With or without evidence, M.R. Sukhumbhand admitted the drugs were a severe
problem.

Burma has flatly denied any involvement in the drug trade.

A military spokesman in Rangoon said the claim was "meant purely for public
relations" as Thai officials were panicking and "putting the blame on
others" for the drug menace.

"It is regretful as well as amazing how the responsible Thai narcotics
officials can come up with such irresponsible statements," the spokesman
said in a statement received by dpa in Bangkok yesterday.

The Burmese embassy has also denied involvement and questioned the evidence
produced by the Thai officer.

"In the midst of enjoying the bilateral co-operation in the fight against
narcotic drugs, this kind of unscrupulous accusation and reporting will
only jeopardise the spirit of goodwill and co-operation," it said in a
statement obtained by the Bangkok Post.

Burma destroyed 4,000kg of heroin, 30,000kg of raw opium, 13 million
methamphetamine tablets and 90,000 acres of poppy fields during its 10-year

operation which ended in 1997, the statement said.
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July 27, 1999  





    

  


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Editorial

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Turning a blind eye to a serious threat

Beaming, they held hands in the manner of a chorus line and declared that
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations was as united as ever, though
licking its wounds after the economic drubbing of recent years. Later, clad
in the batik finery that symbolises the 10-member grouping's informal side,
the foreign ministers declared they were holding to the cherished policy of
non-interference.

The venue was the 32nd Asean Ministerial Meeting, and thoroughly enjoying
the occasion was the team from the State Peace and Development Council,
which has been accorded the right to represent the people of Burma, whose
elected representatives were conspicuous by their absence. No Asean shindig
would be complete without the photo sessions, the batik or re-affirmation
of the policy of non-interference, which is little more than a device to
avoid unpleasant questions about the consequences of the earlier policy of
constructive engagement.

But each time the nabobs of Asean get together, the policy is brought into
question because of the inability of the regime in Rangoon to put a stop to
a form of interference that is causing desperately serious problems in
countries such as our own. The Rangoon regime, through its friends in the
United Wa State Army, is presiding over a massive industry which floods
Thailand with methamphetamines, or speed. It is all very well for ministers
of the 10-member grouping to choose to keep quiet about such matters in the
interests of harmony or diplomatic sensitivities but the realities on the
ground call for an uncompromising approach.

Critics of the addition of the Rangoon regime to the regional grouping
warned with good cause that the junta's new legitimacy would do nothing to
improve conditions for the Burmese people nor improve the conduct of the
generals. In the two years since Rangoon was admitted, our northern border
has become a gateway for the import of narcotics that have resulted in such
a national menace. As though that were not bad enough, our border areas
have become a security nightmare in which troops, villagers, troops and
police have been fired upon by narco-terrorists whose backers are awash
with drug profits and the weaponry and influence they bring.

The junta, which in one form or another has managed to devastate a
once-thriving economy, manages somehow to maintain an alarmingly large and
well-equipped army. And yet it says that it has no control over border
areas, particularly those of the methamphetamine-producing United Wa State
Army, which takes a stridently anti-drugs line with its own people.

This may in part be explained by Rangoon's policy to offer groups such as
the Wa a degree of autonomy and development assistance, which does not mean
hand-outs so much as a licence to make money through operations involving

the manufacture of drugs and money-laundering. An end to Rangoon's problems
with insurgencies has turned into a headache for neighbours such as
Thailand, which is even providing labour for the extravagant development
programme being carried out by the Wa with profits made from drug sales here.

The longer the Wa are allowed to reap massive profits from their drugs
output, the more formidable they will become and the greater the threat to
Thailand. We are seeing, opposite Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces, the
establishment of drugs-funded bastions that can only be likened to those of
the cocaine cartels of Colombia. The army chief is absolutely right to warn
that the benefits of keeping open border points to facilitate legal trade
are vastly outweighed by the social and economic price to be paid for the
one-way traffic in narcotics. As a member of Asean, Rangoon has a lot of
explaining to do, and Asean should remove its blinkers and demand an end to
its unacceptable conduct.
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Authorities told to stop inflow of drugs via Tak
Wa, Buddhist Karen rebels main culprits


Supamart Kasem
Tak


Authorities concerned have been ordered to step up their drive against drug
smuggling as millions of speed pills are reportedly pouring into the
country through the border here.

Prime Minister's Office Minister Jurin Laksanavisit yesterday told the
National Narcotics Operation Centre and local authorities to tighten
measures to stem the flow of illicit drugs into Thailand.

Large quantities of methamphetamines produced by the United Wa State Army
have reportedly been smuggled through Tak after Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai and
Mae Hong Son.

The Third Army also reported there are as many as 57 makeshift production
bases in Myawaddy, opposite Tak's Mae Sot district. They are run by the
ethnic Wa and the products are smuggled into Thailand by guerrillas of the
pro-Rangoon Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA).

The minister met Governor Huekharn Tomornsak, anti-narcotics chief Pol
Maj-Gen Inthadej Pornpirapan and representatives of the Third Army yesterday.

Col Chaluay Yaemphochai, of the Fourth Infantry Regiment Task Force, said
Rangoon allowed the DKBA and the Wa to continue their illegal activities
because it needed their support in suppressing the anti-Rangoon Karen
National Union.

Pol Maj-Gen Intadej said the smuggling routes have recently been switched
from the upper northern provinces to Tak. Drugs are being stored in
hilltribe villages in Phop Phra and Wangchao before they are transported to
other provinces.

Mr Jurin said he has asked local authorities to seek co-operation from
their Burmese counterparts in the fight against drugs. Thailand would help
provide equipment and training, he added.

According to the minister, the Office of the Narcotics Control Board is
working on a report recommending the closure of some border passes.

The report is expected to be forwarded for further consideration next week.

Mr Jurin added authorities concerned were speeding up their investigation
of some 1,300 government officials accused of involvement in the illicit

drug trade.
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