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Wired News on Jan 11-12, '95



Attn: Burma Newsreaders
Re: Wired News on Jan 11-12, '95
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Chinese Buddha relic to return to Burma in 1996   

    RANGOON, Jan 11 (Reuter) - China has agreed to a request from Burma's
military government to allow another visit of a tooth of the Buddha, official
newspapers reported on Wednesday. 

    Chinese Premier Li Peng agreed to the request for a return of the
2,500-year-old relic in 1996 during his visit to Burma last month, the
reports said. 

    Hundreds of thousands of Burmese Buddhists turned out to pay their
respects to the relic when it was carried throughout the country in an
elaborate 45-day procession that began last April. 

    Donations of more than 180 million kyat ($29 million at the official
exchange rate and $1.6 million at the black market rate) and thousands of
pieces of jewellery were collected and will be used to build pagodas to house
replicas of the tooth relic, the reports said. 

    The Burmese government gave $500,000 to China in return for the relic's
visit last year. 

    A Ministry of Religious Affairs official said the dates of the 1996 visit
have yet to be decided. 

 REUTER


Transmitted: 95-01-11 06:04:57 EST
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Americans warned of drug-gang revenge in Thailand   

    BANGKOK (Reuter) - The United States has warned its citizens to be
careful traveling in northern Thailand because revenge attacks by drug gangs
were possible after the arrest of 10 suspected heroin traffickers, a U.S.
Embassy official said Wednesday. 

    ``As a result of the recent arrest of several leading drug traffickers,
the State Department is concerned about possible reprisals,'' the official
said. 

    The warning, which covers the northern Thai provinces of Mae Hong Son,
Chiang Rai and northern parts of Chiang Mai, was issued on Saturday, the
official said. 

    The 10 traffickers, all Thais of Chinese origin, were arrested in a
November sweep in those three provinces and Bangkok. They are alleged to be
key members of Burmese opium warlord Khun Sa's trafficking ring. 

    The official declined to elaborate on why the advisory was thought
necessary and issued Saturday when the arrests were made in November. 

    The arrests were at the request of the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA) and a Thai court Wednesday was to rule on whether to
grant extradition of the 10 to the United States, where they have been
indicted on drugs charges. 

    A senior member of Khun Sa's guerrilla organisation said earlier this
week that at least two of the ten suspects were associates of Khun Sa. 

    The half-Shan and half-Chinese Khun Sa, who has also been indicted by a
U.S. court, commands an 8,000-strong guerrilla army in northeastern Burma's
Shan state. 

    Thai and Western anti-narcotics officials say he is one of the world's
leading drug traffickers. 

    He says he is a Shan nationalist fighting the Burmese junta for the
autonomy of Shan state. He denies he is a drug trafficker, saying he only
taxes opium caravans passing through his areas of control in the Burmese
section of the Golden Triangle opium-growing region.     
REUTER 
Transmitted: 95-01-11 03:10:42 EST
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Burma, Indonesia step up economic cooperation   

    RANGOON, Jan 12 (Reuter) - Burma and Indonesia have agreed to step up
cooperation in agricultural technology, livestock breeding and fisheries,
state-run newspapers reported on Thursday. 

    The two countries signed two memorandums of understanding on Wednesday
covering the exchange of technology, research training and study tours. 

    Indonesian Minister of Agriculture Baharsyah Syarifuddin was in Rangoon
on Wednesday for the signing ceremonies, the reports said. He left later in
the day at the end of a three-day trip. 

    Burma and Indonesia will produce finished goods and boost exports in the
agricultural, livestock and fisheries sectors to their mutual benefit, the
reports said.


Transmitted: 95-01-12 04:06:12 EST
*************


Thai traffickers in court as U.S. warns of revenge   

 (Recasts with traffickers' court appearance) 

    By Sutin Wannabovorn 

    BANGKOK, Jan 11 (Reuter) - A Thai court on Wednesday began a hearing on
the extradition to the United States of 10 suspected heroin traffickers as
the U.S. embassy warned its citizens of possible revenge attacks by drug
gangs in northern Thailand. 

    The hearing was adjourned after two hours because five of the 10
suspects, allegedly involved in Burmese opium warlord Khun Sa's narcotics
operation, failed to appear. 

    A lawyer acting for the suspects blamed an administrative error for the
failure of the five to appear. The hearing will resume on March 3. 

    The U.S. Embassy on Wednesday warned its citizens to be careful when
travelling in northern Thailand fearing possible revenge attacks after the
arrest of the 10, an official said. 

    The warning, which covers the northern Thai provinces of Mae Hong Son,
Chiang Rai and northern parts of Chiang Mai, was issued on Saturday, the
embassy official said. 

    The 10 traffickers, all ethnic Chinese, were arrested in a November sweep
in the three provinces and Bangkok. A U.S. request that the 10 be extradited
was sent to the Thai Foreign Ministry on Tuesday, the official said. 

    The arrests came at the request of the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA) and followed a two-year Thai-U.S. Investigation and the
indictment of the 10 on trafficking charges in a New York court, the official
said. 

    A state prosecutor told the court on Wednesday there was some uncertainty
about the suspects' nationalities. The U.S. official also said there was
doubt over the authenticity of their identification papers. All the suspects
have both Thai and Chinese names. 

    One of the suspects denied he was involved in the drug trade and said he
would fight the attempt to extradite him. 

    ``I am a Thai citizen and I have nothing to do with the charges of heroin
trafficking, that's why I have appointed a lawyer to defend me in court,''
Somwang Unman told Reuters after the hearing was adjourned. 

    No Thai citizen has ever been extradited to the United States to face
drug charges. 

    One of the suspects who failed to appear on Wednesday, Somboon Daengkam,
was willing to be extradited to prove his innocence, his lawyer said. 

    Thai and Western anti-narcotics officials said the half-Shan and
half-Chinese Khun Sa, is one of the world's leading drug traffickers. 

    Khun Sa says he is a Shan nationalist fighting the Burmese military junta
for the autonomy of Shan state and only taxes opium caravans passing through
his areas of control, in the Burmese section of the Golden Triangle
opium-growing region. 

REUTER
Transmitted: 95-01-11 05:46:50 EST
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