NEWS - Myanmar seizes heroin, arres

[TheTruth@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Subject: NEWS - Myanmar seizes heroin, arrests three Singaporeans

Myanmar seizes heroin, arrests three Singaporeans

  
YANGON, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Myanmar said on Wednesday it had arrested
three Singaporean Chinese men at Yangon airport on suspicion of
trafficking 5.7 kg (12.5 pounds) of heroin. 

The government's official New Light of Myanmar newspaper said the men
were arrested at the airport while trying to fly to the Malaysian
capital of Kuala Lumpur on a Malaysian Airlines flight. 

The newspaper said the heroin was found in the possession of two of the
Singaporeans and a third was arrested later for collaborating in the
trafficking. 

The three men had been charged under Myanmar's Narcotics, Drugs and
Psychotropic Substances Law, which carries a maximum penalty of death.
Death sentences are almost always commuted to life imprisonment in
Myanmar. 

It is the second time in two weeks that heroin has been seized from
Singaporeans at Yangon airport, officials said. 

On October 28, Myanmar authorities seized five kg (11 pounds) of the
drug from two Singaporeans waiting to take a Thai Airways  flight to
Bangkok. 

Drug agencies say Singaporeans are sometimes used as couriers for drug
trafficking because Singapore has a squeaky-clean reputation and is
known to crack down hard on drugs. 

Myanmar authorities seized a total of 404 kg (888.8 pounds) of heroin in
1,425 cases in 1998. 

01:10 11-10-99