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Thai
police seize 126 kg of U.S.-bound heroin
04:06 a.m. Jan 12, 2000 Eastern BANGKOK, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Thai anti-narcotics police said on Wednesday that a joint operation with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration had netted 126 kg (280 lb) of U.S.-bound heroin. The heroin, which had originated in neighbouring Myanmar, was seized at Bangkok International Aiport on Monday and was their biggest haul in two years. Officials declined to say how much the seizure would have been worth at U.S. street prices, but narcotics experts in Thailand said the street value in New York City would be more than $50 million. Sorasit Sangprasert, secretary-general of Thailand's Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB), said the heroin came from northeastern Myanmar's Shan State in an area controlled by the United Wa State Army, an ethnic minority force. ``This big haul was seized through cooperation between the U.S. government via the DEA, the ONCB and the Narcotics Suppression Police,'' Sorasit told a news conference. ``I believe that in this case most of the drugs were manufactured by the Wa group.'' Sorasit said the seizure was the result of an investigation that had lasted several months and that the shipment was the work of overseas Chinese gangsters based in the United States in collaboration with ethnic Chinese groups in Hong Kong and Thailand. Police said two Thai men of Chinese origin had been detained during the airport seizure operation. The drugs had been about to be loaded on a plane bound for the United States, they added. Bangkok-based DEA officer Bill Simpson told the news conference that cooperation between the DEA and Thai police had been outstanding. He declined to provide further details saying the investigation was still in progress. Myanmar's Shan State is one of the world's top sources of heroin, most of which is produced in areas controlled by ethnic armies which reached ceasefire agreements with the the country's central military-run government in 1989. |