[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

AFP-Thai officers give shoot to kil



Subject: AFP-Thai officers give shoot to kill order in drugs war

Thai officers give shoot to kill order in drugs war
BANGKOK, July 30 (AFP) - Thai security chiefs on Friday said they would
adopt a shoot to kill policy against drug traffickers in the Golden Triangle
in the wake of a fierce gun battle between Thai troops and ethnic guerrillas
from Myanmar.
Former army chief and current security advisor to the interior minister,
General Chetta Thanajaro said Thai troops, would now shoot to kill.

"As of now there is no need to talk. Why should we talk? If they cross the
border we will shoot them right away," he said, referring to the Wa drug
army based in neighbouring Myanmar.

"If they cross (into Thailand) on one leg we will shoot that leg. If they
cross on two legs we will shoot two legs. That will be the end of it."

The tough talk from one of Thailand's top security officials follows
Thursday's firefight between Thai troops and ethnic guerrillas in the Golden
Triangle, one of the biggest such clashes in recent years.

There were no reports of casualties during the exchange in which United Wa
State Army (UWSA) guerrillas were ambushed as they tried to smuggle
narcotics into Thailand in the early hours of the morning.

A record haul of more than four million amphetamine tablets and 14
kilogrammes (30.8 pounds) of heroin were found after the battle at Mae Fa
Luang, five kilometers (three miles) inside Thailand's Chiang Mai province,
Thai officers said.

The UWSA is believed to be the biggest drug army operating in Myanmar, the
region's largest producer of heroin.

In a related development, key drug suspect Laota Seanlee was escorted under
tight security from Chiang Mai town to a court in nearby Fang district for a
remand hearing on Friday.

Laota, who is on a Thai blacklist as one of the Golden Triangle's major drug
middlemen, was arrested after a raid on his home near the Myanmar border on
Wednesday.

He is thought to have close links with UWSA leader Wei Hsueh Kang.

A force of 800 Thai soldiers and police, backed with heavy weapons, have
been conducting a village-to-village sweep of districts in Chiang Mai and
Chiang Rai provinces opposite the UWSA's territory in Myanmar.


The operation was launched in a bid to stop what Thai narcotics officials
believe is a monthly flow of millions of highly addictive amphetamines pills
across the Myanmar border.

Jurin Laksanawisit, a minister overseeing the Office of Narcotics Control
Board, said Friday that at least one Myanmar-Thai border crossing and
possibly more would be closed to cut off the massive drug trade.

"All parties concerned have agreed that the San Tondu checkpoint in Chiang
Mai should be closed down," he said.

He said Bangkok would next week review all checkpoints in four border
provinces -- Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Tak and Mae Hong Son -- to determine
which others should be sealed.

Chetta said the UWSA would run out of funds within three months if Thai
authorities were successful in shutting down their trafficking routes.