NEWS - THAI TROOPS RE-DEPLOYED ALON

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Subject: NEWS - THAI TROOPS RE-DEPLOYED ALONG BURMA BORDER

BURMA COURIER No. 199          Sept 12 - 18, 1999

THAI TROOPS RE-DEPLOYED ALONG BURMA BORDER
Based on S.H.A.N. and Bangkok Post reports:  September 17, 1999

CHIANG MAI -- A major re-deployment of Thai army units along the
country's
troubled northern and western borders with Burma is underway, the Shan
Herald reports.

A well-informed source told the Shan news agency this week that the
Third
Cavalry Regiment, long stationed along the eastern border with Laos, had
recently been transferred to Chiang Mai in the north.   Third Cavalry
has
taken over positions all along the northern border that were previously
occupied by the Naresuan Task Force of the Third Army.   The Naresuan
Task
Force, which has been active in combating armed groups engaged in drug
trafficking in the north, was being transferred to Thailand's Tak
province,
the source reports.

Last week, Thai police and customs officers in the Mae Sai district of
Chiang Rai province near the Burmese border area seized 58 kg of
explosives
along with three boxes of dynamite and two tonnes of ammonium nitrate
used
to manufacture explosives.  The cache was uncovered on the premises of a
transport company.  An officer said the explosive device was so powerful
it
could have destroyed the town of Mae Sai.  He said police were
investigating whether Burmese exiles were connected to the cache.

Meanwhile, Burmese army forces in eastern Shan state were reported to be
on
the move towards a border pass along Highway 45 to the south of Mongton.
The Shan Herald reported that large numbers of civilian porters and all
available trucks in the town had been requisitioned to move troops and
supplies southwards from an army base located at army district
headquarters
in Monghsat on September 10.

Two days later, troops were reported near the villages on Poong Pakhem
and
Nakawng Mu in the border area.  A S.H.A.N. source said that as many as
600
soldiers from battalions 65, 225, 333, 519 and 49 were involved in the
operation.  The Shan States Army's 727th Brigade, commanded by Maj.
Ternkhurh, has been active in Mongton Township and is reported to have a
Burmese army mountain stronghold under siege in the border area.