BP: Burmese cooperation crucial, sa

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Subject: BP: Burmese cooperation crucial, says Sanan




June 14, 1999  
DRUGS SUPPRESSION / NORTHERN BORDER
Burmese cooperation crucial, says Sanan
Police urged to help in tackling problems

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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© Copyright The Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd. 1999
Last Modified: Mon, Jun 14, 1999
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