January 5, 1998 Trafficking of hero

[suriya@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

January 5, 1998

              Trafficking of 
              heroin from 
              Burma diverted 
              elsewhere

                Kingdom has lost its through-route 
              status

                   Anucha Charoenpo


              Thailand is no longer a popular through-route for the trafficking 
              of heroin from Burma to other nations.

              However, it is now a market for amphetamines, marijuana and 
              ecstasy pills coming in from neighbouring countries.

              Four to five years ago Thailand was the favoured country for 
              moving drugs out of Burma but tough action, particularly by the 
              Border Patrol Police during the last government of Chavalit 
              Yongchaiyudh, has clamped down on the smuggling. 

              Several drug suppression agencies have set up local units along 
              the 850km-border which runs along the northern provinces of 
              Mae Hong Son, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. These are opposite 
              the heroin-production bases in Burma. 

              The action means that drug producers are now transporting 
              heroin via Burma's Shan state to the southern Chinese town of 
              Kunming. From there it goes to Europe, America and other 
              Southeast Asian nations. The new route is protected by thick 
              jungle.

              Transportation involves either a caravan of animals or boats 
              along the Salween river. The drugs are then loaded onto vehicles 
              to take them to Kunming. They then go either direct to overseas 
              markets or via Laos and Vietnam. 

              Despite former drug lord Khun Sa's surrender to the Burmese 
              junta two years ago, opium plantations and heroin production 
              remain under the control of ethnic groups and former followers 
              of Khun Sa. 

              Border police said the activities help raise money for their 
              movements. 

              However, cheaper-to-use amphetamines are flooding into 
              Thailand to meet demand from labourers and students.

              Burma is also the source and there are plenty of production 
              bases near Thailand's northern provinces. 

              Cambodia is another source, with the drug produced in areas 
              opposite the Thai border from Rayong up to Si Sa Ket province.

              Laos supplies marijuana with plantations common in 
              Savannakhet opposite Nakhon Phanom.

              Border police said the Laotian authorities supported marijuana 
              growing as a way of generating foreign exchange for national 
              development projects.

              And the South is the gateway for ecstasy tablets, which are 
              smuggled in from Singapore.