DRUG TRADE IN GOLDEN TRAINGLE FLORI

[moe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Subject: DRUG TRADE IN GOLDEN TRAINGLE FLORISHING   


              Drug trade in golden triangle flourishing    REUTER 5/4



              MAE HONGSON (Thailand) -- Heroin factories in the Golden
Triangle are
              flourishing again as they once did under nowretired drug
warlord Khun
              Sa -- but this time under the direction of his longtime
rivals, ethnic Wa
              guerillas. 

              Khun Sa's former turf has been taken over by the United Wa
State Army
              (UWSA), a splinter group of the Myanmar Communist Party in
northern
              Myanmar's Shan state which maintains a ceasefire with the military
              government in Yangon, sources with the Thai and US anti-narcotics
              authorities said. 

              The factories in the state's opium-poppy growing area formerly
belonged
              to Khun Sa, the half-Shan, half-Chinese leader of the now
defunct Mong
              Tai Army (MTA), which controlled the opium trade while
fighting the
              Myanmar government for Shan state independence. 

              "The information we have is that the UWSA has resumed much of the
              drugs production and activities from the MTA," said a drug
enforcement
              officer with the US embassy in Bangkok. 

              The Golden Triangle, which straddles the borders of Laos,
Thailand and
              Myanmar, is said by US drug enforcement officials to supply
about 70
              per cent of the world's heroin. 

              Khun Sa surrendered to the Myanmar authorities in January last
year.
              Anti-drug officials believe he is living in luxury in Yangon.
Myanmar has
              said Khun Sa, who is wanted by the US authorities, will not be
              extradited. 

              Golden Triangle heroin production went into a hiatus during
the power
              vacuum following Khun Sa's surrender. 

              But the UWSA had since taken over several former MTA jungle
bases in
              defiance of demands by Myanmar's ruling State Law and Order
              Restoration Council that it pull out of the area, the Thai
sources said. 

              The Wa guerillas took over the heroin factories after Wei Siao
Gang, who
              is wanted by the United States for drug trafficking, was appointed
              commander of UWSA forces near the Thai border late last year,
replacing
              Tei Kung Ming, who was murdered in China, a Thai police source
said. 

              A journalist who visited the areas last week confirmed heavy
              deployments of Wa guerillas in the two places. 

              "Every month, the Wa produce at least 140 kg of heroin from
these two
              factories," said another Thai anti-narcotics source based in
northern
              Thailand. 

              Khun Sa's former headquarters at Ho Mong in Shan state is now
a ghost
              town. -- Reuter.