CNN: 70 PERCENT OF WORLD'D HEROIN A

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Subject: CNN: 70 PERCENT OF WORLD'D HEROIN ARE FROM BURMA




                  WorldView

                  Opium Trade Integral Part of Myanmar Civil War

                  Aired December 26, 1998 - 6:13 p.m. ET 

                  THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL
                  FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. 

                  MARINA KOLBE, CNN ANCHOR: Western drug experts estimate
70 percent of
                  the world's heroin comes from the so-called Golden
Triangle. That is an area
                  which includes parts of Laos, Thailand and Myanmar, the
country formerly
                  known as Burma. 

                  CNN's Riz Khan takes a closer look. 

                  (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) 

                  RIZ KHAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The mountainous
territory on
                  the Thai-Myanmar border, one of the sides of the infamous
Golden Triangle.
                  What seems to be harmless vegetation here is actually a
deadly crop; poppy
                  plants are the source of opium, the raw material used in
the production of
                  heroin. The effort to destroy the crop can be
challenging, given that the area is
                  also fertile group for rebel groups fighting the Myanmar
government. The Shan
                  State Army is one of a handful of armed insurgent groups
that has not signed a
                  cease-fire pact with the military administration in Yangon. 

                  From his jungle hideout, the commander of the SSA spoke
recently about the
                  drugs problem. Colonel Yod Suk says the Shan people and
other ethnic
                  minorities have been forced into opium cultivation by the
actions of the
                  Myanmar military. 

                  COL. YOD SUK, SHAN STATE ARMY (through translator): They
need
                  permanent plots of land to grow rice and other crops, and
they don't have them.
                  People in the Shan state have turned to growing poppy
because it takes a short
                  time, or a few months to harvest, and they can shift the
location of opium fields
                  in the jungles. 

                  KHAN: Yod Suk was a close aide of the former drug warlord
Khun Sa (ph),
                  who's now surrendered to the Myanmar government and is
living in Yangon. The
                  rebel leader says Shan state has produced more than 2,000
tons of heroin in
                  1998. That's enough to make about 200,000 kilograms of
pure heroin. The
                  United States is leading the fight against drugs. 

                  WILLIAM SIMPSON, U.S. DRUG ENFORCEMENT AGENCY: Our
intelligence
                  here in Southeast Asia indicate that there is a large
amount of heroin leaving
                  Southeast Asia. Now where is it going? That's what we're
here working on. We
                  know that heroin comes through Thailand, and it goes --
from Thailand it could
                  go to Laos, into Vietnam, and then either into Europe, or
from Europe into the
                  United States. KHAN: The Americans have pumped in
millions of dollars to
                  assist the drug-fighting efforts of the Thai and Myanmar
militaries. For rebels
                  like Yod Suk, this represents a wasted effort. He's
calling on the U.S.
                  government to cooperate with his rebels to stamp out the
trade. There's no
                  evidence Washington is willing to take up that offer. 

                  Riz Khan, CNN. 

                  (END VIDEOTAPE) 

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