News From Today's Thai Paper

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June 17th, 1997
Bangkok Post
Trafficker shot dead by Thai troops

Heroin worth B10 million seized 

Cheevin Sattha, Subin Khuenkaew
Mae Hong son


A member of a drug trafficking gang was shot dead in a clash with Thai 
troops who seized eight kilogrammes of heroin worth more than 10 million 
baht from them.

The clash took place at about 2.10 a.m. yesterday when a Border Patrol 
Police unit spotted a band of armed men transporting drugs from a 
heroin-producing factory in Lamhuay Doi Phakood in this province's Pai 
district, about 4 km from the Thai-Burmese border.

The gang suddenly opened fire at the troops who immediately alerted the 
336th BPP unit which then pounded the heroin-producing factory with 
artillery fire.

The clash lasted about 30 minutes before the gang fled the scene, 
leaving behind their dead accomplice.

BPP seized 22 bags of High-grade heroin weighing 8kg worth about 10 
million baht. Also found at the scene were an AK-47 assault rifle, a 
large quantity of ammunition, medical supplies, three motorcycles, and a 
pick-up truck.

The raid followed an investigation by the provincial police after they 
were tipped that a gang of Chinese Haw were transferring drugs from Ban 
Khai Luang on the Burmese side near Ho Mong, the former stronghold of 
drug warlord Khun Sa, to Lamhuay Doi Phakkood.

According to police, the heroin factory belonged to one of the sons of 
Li Weng-ming, a drug suspect arrested last month.

Li Weng-ming, 50, an aide of Khun Sa, was arrested at Ban Phiang Luang 
in Chiang Mai's Wiang Haeng district while about to flee the country, 
said police.


Why the need for secrecy?

Energy gain may be the positive end result, but there is no transparency 
in the Yadana gas pipeline project.

The Thai officials responsible concluded the deal with the Burmese 
government secretly. They used "national security" as the pretext to 
shut the eyes, ears and mouths of the public.

This method is no different from the conduct of the ruling State Law and 
Order Restoration Council (Slorc) in Burma.

Environmentalists and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) opposed to 
the project have been accused by government authorities of being 
obstinate and being the stooge of foreign investors.

This smear campaign bears all the hallmarks of Cold War propaganda.

The truth is that the environmentalists are residents of Kanchanaburi 
who will be affected directly by the laying of the gas pipeline. They 
have been working continuously to protect the well-being of their 
homeland.

People like national artist Naowarat Pongpaiboon and former third army 
region commander Gen Ruamsak Chaikomin are not only natives of 
Kanchanaburi, they are members of Thai society. They have as much love 
for Thailand as Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh. They have vision 
and recognise the country's long-term interests.

The government cannot shut their eyes, ears and mouths.

The problem here is not about patriotism or national interests. It is 
the government's lack of transparency and sincerity in carrying out the 
project. If Gen Chavalit is truly a representative of the Thai people, 
he must ensure the project is implemented openly.

Editorial from Khao Sod

The Nation
US state prosecutor sets sights on Khun Sa 



YINDEE LERTCHAROENCHOK 

The Nation 

A SENIOR US federal prosecutor responsible for several indictments 
against Southeast Asian drug trafficking syndicates has expressed strong 
hope that opium warlord Khun Sa will be brought to justice for his 
illicit drug activities over the past 20 years. 


n Interview: A5 

Catherine E Palmer, a senior litigation counsel and assistant attorney 
in the US Attorney's Office in the eastern district of New York, praised 
Thailand for its cooperation in arresting and extraditing several of 
Khun Sa's leading lieutenants under a joint Thai-US Operation named 
Tiger Trap. Since last year, three out of 14 Tiger Trap suspects who 
were all arrested separately, have already been extradited to face 
charges in US federal courts which has experience in prosecuting members 
of the Italian mafia, Asian crime gangs and Southeast Asian drug 
traffickers. 

China recently handed the US one Tiger Trap suspect, arrested in 
southern Yunnan province, said Palmer, who is the lead prosecutor in 
Operation Tiger Trap aimed at persecuting Khun Sa and 19 other 
collaborators who have participated in heroin production and 
trafficking. 

Palmer, who has just left Bangkok after a one-month stay as a guest 
lecturer at the Thailand Criminal Law Institute, declined to name Tiger 
Trap suspects who have already pleaded guilty. But several informed 
sources identified Li Chia-cheng, who was arrested by Yunnan authorities 
and sent to the US in late April, as being among them. 

The three other suspects extradited from Thailand were Meechai 
Pathumanee, who was extradited on January 17, 1997; Chao Fu-sheng 
extradited on May 24, 1996; and Chao Yuan on August 31, 1996. 

In an interview last Friday, Palmer praised Thailand for its cooperation 
in the operation that had ''a direct impact on Khun Sa's ultimate fall" 
and ''a significant impact" in disrupting his drug empire that had been 
operating in the Shan State for more than 20 years. 

''We have gotten several of the top [Tiger Trap suspects]. I can't say 
what's going on right now with Khun Sa or what will happen to him in the 
future, but I remain very optimistic that he will face justice at some 
point," she said. 

''Whether it's in the United States, Burma or Thailand, that's not 
important to me. But what is important to me is that he answers the 
charges some place, whenever it happens," Palmer said, who has been 
dubbed ''Dragon Lady" by the Asian community in New York for her tough 
pursuit of Asian organised crime gangs and Southeast Asian drug 
trafficking syndicates. 

She was hopeful that more of the operation's suspects would be arrested. 

''Concerning Khun Sa, I'm proud of the fact that our efforts here in 
cooperation with the Thai police have resulted to a large extent with 
the shutting down of his Shan operation and made him move to a place 
where maybe he cannot run operations as he once did," she said. The US 
prosecutor accepted that there were several other major narcotic 
warlords in Burma's Shan State, apart from Khun Sa, who are or have been 
heavily involved in illicit drug activities in the Golden Triangle area. 

She said the Thai police and US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) 
''were well aware of who the rising people are" and were closely working 
together to bring new cases and investigations against all of the major 
targets. 

Palmer hopes Burma will continue to extend anti-drug cooperation as, it 
did with the surprise arrest and deportation to Thailand in late May of 
Li, who jumped bail in early February while awaiting extradition to the 
US.

Probe report on bribery claims in Li case ready 



The Nation 

A JUDICIAL committee investigating bribery allegations surrounding a 
senior judge who granted bail to a high-profile drug suspect submitted 
its report to the Justice Ministry permanent secretary yesterday. 

However, Permanent Secretary Kukiart Sunthornbura would not disclose the 
findings of the inquiry into former Criminal Court Deputy Chief Justice 
Somchai Udomwong's actions. 

Somchai granted bail to Li Yun-chung in February. The suspect fled to 
Burma and was recaptured and returned to Thai authorities in May. He was 
extradited to the United States early this month. 

Somchai was transferred to the position of senior judge in the Appeals 
Court when the committee began its investigation. Kukiart said the 
Judicial Commission, which governs judges, might consider the findings 
on June 30 and make a final decision concerning Somchai's fate. 

The permanent secretary said he would have to comment on the findings to 
send to the commission. 

The commission would also receive comments from Criminal Court Chief 
Justice Pradit Ekmanee and Appeals Court Chief Justice Kiart Jatanilphan 
concerning the findings. 

''I've roughly studied the documents from the committee but can't 
disclose any details now," Kukiart said after receiving four envelopes 
from Piti Wara-ubol, a panel member. 

Kukiart said the documents would be passed on to Judicial Affairs Office 
Secretary-General Jaral Paktithanakul, who would make copies for Pradit 
and Kiart. 

Justice Minister Suwit Khunkitti would eventually receive the reports 
and comments from the permanent secretary and two chief justices, which 
would then be passed on to the Judicial Commission. 

Kukiart said the details of the investigations would only be made public 
after the commission has decided on the case. 

He said the investigations had so far only focused on Somchai. 

The Justice Ministry would have to decide whether to conduct more 
inquiries. 

nThe Criminal Court yesterday accepted a defamation suit filed by 
Democrat Party MP Supatra Masdit against New Aspiration Party spokesman 
Premsak Piayura and the editor of Matichon for alleging that she was 
having an extramarital affair.

'Sex bomb' carries Aids 



PONGSAK BAI-NGERN 

The Nation 

FOR a short while, Manao was a ''sex bomb in the village". ''Say hi, and 
she's yours," was how young men in tambon Donfaek, Nakhon Pathom, talked 
about the female stranger who first showed up in the area in April. 

Today, the young men who became involved with what they thought was a 
sexual windfall live in fear. Manao was forced by villagers and public 
health officials to have a blood test. The outcome was what they 
expected: the teenage girl has Aids. 

''The boys are devastated," Kamnan Song On-la-iad said. ''They don't act 
rowdy anymore, and there is no getting together to drink. There's no 
revving of motorcycle engines. Some can neither eat nor sleep." 

Good-looking Manao had seduced and slept with countless local men, Song 
said. He added she had also engaged in group sex, ''some of which I 
would rather call consensual gang rape". ''They could do anything to 
her, but only on one condition ­ that they not use condoms," he said. 

She also allegedly seduced an eight-year-old boy. 

She is now in the custody of public welfare officials in Bangkok, while 
provincial welfare officials are doing their best to provide assistance 
and counselling to the men who had sexual encounters with her.

Extradition 'a tool to jail criminals' 



US federal prosecutor Catherine Palmer is best known for her key role in 
combatting Asian organised crime groups and Southeast Asian heroin 
trafficking syndicates through campaigns such as the Tiger Trap 
Operation which ensnared several close aides of Golden Triangle warlord 
Khun Sa. The 'Dragon Lady', as the Chinese community in New York calls 
her, was in Bangkok for a month as a guest lecturer of the Thailand 
Criminal Law Institute. She talked to The Nation's Yindee 
Lertcharoenchok last Friday before returning to her heavy workload at 
the Eastern District of New York. Following are excerpts from the 
interview. The second part of the interview will run tomorrow. 

There have been a lot of arguments, even opposition, to US requests for 
extradition of criminal suspects from Thailand. Why should Thailand 
extradite some criminal suspects, even Thai citizens, to the US, 
particularly alleged drug trafficking suspects? 

During the last 10 years all of us ­ many countries ­ have faced an 
increased problem with very large international heroin trafficking 
groups supplying and sending heroin to many different places, including 
the United States. 

One of the most effective ways for law enforcement agencies to stop some 
of these activities is to try to make cases where we can arrest in one 
case as many of the people involved in the trafficking activities as 
possible, whether they are suppliers, the financiers or the investors, 
the shippers or packers or the people in New York who distribute the 
drugs. 

Under our laws in the US, we have a very strong conspiracy law that 
allows us to make one case against all these kinds of people. 

I view extradition as an important tool to allow prosecutors in the US 
or elsewhere to try to put in jail at one time all the people involved 
in the trafficking syndicates and not just the smaller people who may 
just carry the drugs or some of the people who just sell the drugs on 
the street, but really all of the people involved. 

I see extradition not as a question of trying to wrongfully get involved 
in another nation's sovereignty but as a tool that law enforcement 
officers or prosecutors can use to maybe arrest and prosecute in one 
place all people involved in a large international crime. That makes it 
better because only one trial will be needed. So if you have witnesses 
who need to be protected or you have concern about the safety of 
witnesses, you can have just one trial and hopefully just one conviction 
for all the defendants. 

If Thailand is able to develop the conspiracy law that it has now but 
has not been able to really develop strongly yet, Thailand also will be 
able to prosecute all those kinds of people in one case. 

I think the citizens of Thailand would rather have someone who is 
engaged in drug trafficking in Thailand, sending large amounts of drugs 
out of Thailand and then using the money to do money laundering in 
Thailand, put in jail some place, rather than continuing to do their 
drug activities and money laundering activities, because those things 
also lead to other crimes such as murder and kidnapping. 

I view it just as a tool to put people in jail. If the legal system is 
stronger in one country than the other then we should all work together 
to try to put the criminals in jail wherever the law allows us to. 

So if someone is in the United States and he is charged in Thailand with 
a crime, we will send him back to Thailand. He should be prosecuted in 
Thailand. We have not had the opportunity to do that yet because we have 
not had requests yet. But we have sent people to Mexico and Hong Kong 
and to other countries on extradition requests from other countries and 
it was because in those cases it was better to have the persons tried in 
Mexico or Hong Kong because they could be tried together with the rest 
of the group that they were involved with. It's important that people 
understand that the US is not looking to arrest Thai citizens. It's just 
looking to arrest criminals whether they are Thai citizens, whether they 
are Mexican or American citizens. The question is that we have to stop 
their crimes. If we can do it in one place, that's better. 

Has the US obtained any similar cooperation from other countries in the 
region in terms of extradition? 

Yes, I have personally been involved in the last eight years in the 
extradition of many people from Hong Kong, and several people from 
Singapore and Japan. 

In this region, there is a lot of cooperation among law enforcement 
officers and prosecutors who work together to bring these large 
international syndicates to justice. Thailand has been one of the 
strongest countries in stating its commitment against these syndicates 
by being willing to work with the US and other countries to try to 
arrest these people. 

Thailand should be very proud that it is saying to the rest of the world 
that we are committed to international law enforcement. It is also 
saying to criminals in the world that Thailand is not a safe place. You 
will be arrested and prosecuted either here or somewhere else. I think 
this is a very important thing. 

The reality is that drug producers and traffickers do not reside in 
Thailand alone. They also take refuge and operate in Burma and China as 
well. How are you going to cooperate with these two countries to get the 
criminals? 

Our government has different political issues that it must resolve with 
both Burma and China. The case of Li Yun-chung shows that Burma is at 
least willing to try in some of these drug cases to give cooperation. I 
think that's very important. [Li jumped bail in Thailand in early 
February while awaiting a court hearing on his extradition to the US. He 
was later re-arrested in Burma and deported from Thailand last month.] I 
hope things like that continue because I think all of the people 
involved in law enforcement realise what a problem these big drug 
trafficking syndicates are. The government of China has been very 
cooperative in the last year in providing information to law enforcement 
officers in the US on people involved in kidnappings in New York. They 
have given a lot of assistance by providing information in some of those 
cases. They recently turned over to the US one of the defendants wanted 
in the Tiger Trap Operation who was in China. I can't address the 
political issues between our three countries. But I think it's very 
important for all of us in law enforcement to understand that we have a 
mutual problem and to work towards a mutual goal. 

Thailand plays a very important role because the Thai police and the 
government here have a better working relationship with both Burma and 
China. They act very much as a strong middleman to explain to both Burma 
and China the importance of cooperation. I think because the Thai 
government has good relations and good law enforcement relations with 
Burma and China, that benefits all of us. 

Some of the remaining top drug suspects wanted in Operation Tiger Trap 
remain in Burma at this time. How will the US go after them? 

We have got several of the top men. I can't say what's going on right 
now with Khun Sa or what will happen with him in the future. But I 
remain very optimistic that he will see justice at some point. 

We have got some very significant Tiger Trap defendants back in the US. 
I believe very strongly that it was the joint effort by the US Drug 
Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Thai police in putting together 
Operation Tiger Trap that had a direct impact on Khun Sa's ultimate fall 
from the Shan United Army. I think that's a significant impact because 
we disrupted an organisation that had been operating in Shan state for 
more than 20 years. 

There are other key producers and traffickers in Shan state. Some of 
them have actually been Khun Sa's rivals while others have quickly 
filled in the vacuum left after his surrender to Rangoon in January 
1996. How will the US address the problem? 

We in law enforcement, especially the Thai police and DEA, are very well 
aware of who the rising people are. Strong efforts are being made and 
will continue to be made against major trafficking organisations. It 
takes time to make cases but the people should understand that every day 
the narcotics police here and the DEA here are working towards making 
new cases and new investigations on all of the major targets. 

We can't walk away. If we do, then the criminals win and society loses. 
It's our job to keep working and keep trying to find out the best way to 
investigate and arrest them. We do that because it's important for 
society that these people stop producing and stop being able to 
distribute. 

But law enforcement isn't the only answer. Law enforcement alone is not 
going to solve the drug problem. We have an important role to play, to 
try to identify the people and arrest the big players and interrupt the 
flow of their drugs. But that's only one part of the problem. 

We have to address it on a social level and on an economic level. People 
cannot hold law enforcement solely responsible. They have to recognise 
when law enforcement does a good job but also recognise that other parts 
of the government and other parts of society have a responsibility for 
the drug problems and have to address it jointly. That's the only way 
that all the problems can be solved. 



How hopeful is the US of capturing the remaining Tiger Trap suspects 
including Khun Sa? 

I think we will get several of them. About Khun Sa, I'm very proud of 
the fact that our efforts here with the Thai police have resulted to a 
large extent in shutting down his Shan operation and making him go to a 
place where maybe he is not or cannot operate as he once did. 

That's a huge step. I remain optimistic that our continued effort will 
one day lead him to have to face justice some place. Whether it's in the 
United States, or in Burma or in Thailand, that's not important to me. 

But what's important to me is that he answers the charges some place, 
wherever that can best happen.



"THERE WILL BE NO REAL DEMOCRACY IF WE CAN'T GURANTEE THE RIGHTS OF THE 
MINORITY ETHNIC PEOPLE.  ONLY UNDERSTANDING THEIR SUFFERING AND HELPING 
THEM TO EXERCISE THEIR RIGHTS WILL ASSIST PREVENTING FROM THE 
DISINTEGRATION AND THE SESESSION."  "WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING THEIR 
STRENGTH, WE CAN'T TOPPLE THE SLORC AND BURMA WILL NEVER BE IN PEACE."



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