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NARCOTICS SUPPRESSION



NARCOTICS SUPPRESSION	
BANGKOK POST 9TH AUG 1999



Drug gang kills ranger in clash Half-hour shootout near the border





Wassana Nanuam and Thirawat Kamthita


One paramilitary ranger was shot dead in a clash with suspected drug
traffickers near the Thai-Burmese border in Chiang Rai province yesterday.



A 20-man unit of the 3104th ranger company was on a routine patrol in the
mountainous terrain of Tambon Mae Salong Nai, Mae Fa Luang district, at
about 9am when they came across a 40-member armed band, thought to be Wa
or Muser drug traffickers.



The rangers ordered the armed men to stop for a search only to be shot at.



This triggered off a firefight which lasted almost half an hour.



After the gunshots died down, the rangers found one of their colleagues,
Somkid Mingyai, shot dead at the scene.



Army sources said that the fighting scene was close to a H'mong hilltribe
village known to be a hotbed of drug trafficking.



Several other villages in the region such as Ban San Maded, Ban Hua
Maekham and Ban H'mong Kao Land have been identified by Thai authorities
as transit stops for methamphetamine smugglers.



The pills were smuggled in from Burmese territory controlled by the United
Wa State Army.



A senior army officer, meanwhile, dismissed the recent claim by a UWSA
officer that the the UWSA has acquired most of its income from the trade
in precious gemstones.



"From the army information, there are no precious gemstone sources of
commercial value in the Wa-controlled territories. 



"If there are plenty of precious stones as claimed, then I suppose they
mean the precious stones being worn by the Wa officers which were bought
with drug money," said the officer who spoke on condition of anonymity.



He claimed that 99% of the UWSA's revenue came from drug trafficking and
the rest from the timber trade.



He pointed out that the San Ton Du border pass in Mae Ai district of
Chiang Mai, which was closed down last week, was not a major drug route.



But, he said, it was an important corridor through which many supplies
such as oil and construction materials were delivered to the Wa for the
development of their capital, Mong Yawn.



He also reiterated that the army would not allow the opening of another
border pass at Ban San Maded as requested by some Thai traders who have
business interests with the Wa.



The border will be reopened only when the Wa has stopped producing
narcotic drugs, he said.