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The Nation -Drug cash stashed on Th



Subject: The Nation -Drug cash stashed on Thai-Burmese border

The Nation - Sep 3, 1999.
Headlines
IN BRIEF: Drug cash stashed on Thai-Burmese border

THE chief of Police Region 6 Bureau yesterday expressed the belief that
narcotics traffickers have hidden several hundred million baht along the
Thai-Burmese border.

Pol Lt-Gen Sopon Sawakhamin said he had received intelligence reports that
drug traders had resorted to hiding cash on their own instead of depositing
the money in banks.

Region 6 covers the lower northern provinces, including Tak, Phitsanulok and
Phetchabun.

Sopon said the money was hidden on the Burma side so Thai authorities could
not go to check or seize it.

''This is why some Thai money has disappeared from circulation,'' Sopon
said.

Recently, iTV television broadcast a special scoop showing footage of a
minority group digging up Thai money that they buried on the Burma side of
the border.

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Mae Tao border area closed

THE Army ordered the closure of the border area in Mae Tao district
yesterday following the latest blatant incursion by the Democratic Karen
Buddhist Army (DKBA) in which a Thai was injured.

On Aug 28, the DKBA entered Thailand at Tak's Mae Tao district, looting and
shooting at Thais. One person was reported injured and three houses were
riddled with bullets.

Rangoon had earlier promised to pay compensation for the damages.

The Thai government and the Army have been irked by the incident, which led
to the border closure order. Further details on the closure is yet to be
made available.

According to an informed source, the DKBA warned the Thais not to cross into
Burma. Those who do would be shot on sight.

Thai-Burmese relations have been affected by repeated incursions into Thai
territory by the DKBA, especially during the dry season. The DKBA had broken
away from the Karen National Union.