bangkok post(14/5/99)

[mandalay@xxxxxxxxxx]

<center><bold>Burmese cooperation crucial, says Sanan Police urged to
help in tackling problems

</bold></center>

Sermsuk Kasitipradit

Without full cooperation from the Burmese government it is most unlikely
that Thailand can effectively tackle the drugs problem, Interior Minister
Sanan Kachornprasart said.


"Since amphetamine and heroin manufacturing bases are located along the
common border of our two countries, Burma's assistance is crucial for the
government's success in resolving drug problems," said Maj-Gen Sanan, who
heads the National Narcotics Operation Centre (NNOC) which oversees drug
suppression operations countrywide.


Maj-Gen Sanan spoke with the Bangkok Post while leading senior government
officials to Phitsanulok to evaluate the government's drug suppression
campaign in six lower-north provinces over the weekend.


The Interior minister said bilateral ties between the two countries had
gradually improved and he was hopeful it would further lead to more
border cooperation on drugs suppression.


He plans to raise the issue with the Burmese government in the near
future.


An informed source disclosed that former army commander-in-chief Gen
Chettha Thanajaro, known to have close ties with leading Burmese military
officers, has been assigned to coordinate the meeting.


"I'm quite optimistic that the meeting will help strengthen ties and step
up our cooperation," said Maj-Gen Sanan.


During the drugs suppression seminar, Maj-Gen Sanan, who also supervises
the Royal Thai Police Office, urged police chiefs in the six
provinces-Phichit, Uttaradit, Phrae, Nan, Phetchabun and Phitsanulok-to
provide full cooperation to provincial governors in tackling drug
problems.


"Provincial police chiefs have to report directly to provincial governors
and give them full cooperation in tackling drug problems. The narcotics
situation in the country is at a critical stage and you all must join
hands to tackle it," the interior minister said.


Senior interior officials accompanying Maj-Gen Sanan were Payont Pansri,
secretary general of the Office of the Narcotics Control Board, police
chief Pol Gen Pracha Promnok, and Maj-Gen Manoonkrit Roopkachorn, the
minister's adviser.


Maj-Gen Sanan had briefed the meeting over the Internal Security
Operation Centre's role in fighting narcotics, saying the NNOC's centre
will be located at the Army's Operation Centre compound. He said the

military and Border Patrol Police would soon be deployed in border areas
widely used as drug routes.


"We will soon step up our suppression drive along the common border,"
Maj-Gen Sanan said. He said the government had already given 380 million
to the NNOC to fight drugs in its first fiscal year, noting that all 75
provinces countrywide would each get around seven million baht. A senior
official from the ONCB's northern bureau reportedly disclosed during the
meeting that all 57 amphetamine and heroin manufacturing bases pinpointed
were located in Burmese and Laotian territories.

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