THAILAND: DRUG WAR II HAS STARTED

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DRUG WAR II HAS STARTED

The second wave of skewed statistics underway

The Northern Narcotics Control Office (NNCO) reports that it is ready to
launch the second War on Drug campaign, and has more than 4,600 suspects on
the blacklists.

This time, the NNCO officers would seek more cooperation from
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and local residents as sources of
information rather than just the official government sources.

The director of NNCO, Pithaya Jinawat, said that following the first War on
Drugs campaign last year, held in compliance with the government's policy,
more than 23,000 drug dealers were stopped, of which 7,000 dealers were
killed and the other 16,000 dealers surrendered to the authorities. These
dealers came from the names of 101,000 drug traffickers on the blacklists.

He expressed thanks and gratefulness to the Third Army Region commander and
the border patrol police (BBP) for their assistance in the drug suppression,
arrests and confiscation of properties.

During this second War on Drugs campaign, each district has been instructed
to build up a strong community liaison to monitor the drug situation, while
the Department of Local Administration should monitor all government
officials, especially the Power of the People volunteers.

During Drug War I, many those involved with drugs came from those
volunteers, he said. Many of them had purchased fake ID cards.

In this second operation, which will run from March 8 - June 8, 2004, the
office has collected more than 4,600 names of drug dealers. This operation
is being carefully and covertly implemented because some dealers could hire
top lawyers to plead their cases, leading the courts to dismiss the charges.

Director Pithaya also spoke on the case of the Chiang Mai Provincial
Administration Organization member for Hot district, saying that further
steps would be taken to prove his guilt and ensure punishment. He insinuated
that this case was involved with not only police but also some prominent
organizations.

He was also looking to China and Burma to provide cooperation on this
serious issue. He finally noted that when they received enough details this
would result in more arrests of the drug dealers.

With 101,000 names on the blacklist in Drug War I and only 23,000 accounted
for (7,000 killed), this leaves 78,000 still at large. This time, the figure
is given as only 4,600 suspects on the Drug War II blacklist, which prompts
the question as to what happened to the other 73,400?

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WAR ON DRUGS, THE SECOND WAVE PART TWO

3rd Army chief blames foreign countries and Hi-So users

The Third Army Region is worried about a new wave of drugs being introduced
to teenagers, according to Lieutenant General Phicharnmek Muangmanee, the
commander in chief of the Third Army Region.

Lieutenant General Phicharnmek Muangmanee, commander in chief of the Third
Army Region.

He stated that following the last War on Drugs, amphetamines have become
less available, but new drugs are taking their place. "There are new kinds
of drugs which are replacing the old, such as ice, cocaine, ecstasy and love
drug, and the drug dealers are targeting high society customers who enjoy
the entertainment places at night. These drugs cost much more than other
drugs," he said.

He claims that the distributors of the drugs are capitalists from major
cities of three or four foreign countries. "We have to cooperate with our
neighbouring countries like Burma and Laos to keep a close lookout for drug
smuggling," he told reporters in Chiang Mai recently.

Chiang Mai Governor Suwat Tantipat also announced the second wave of the War
on Drugs. He stated that this is in response to the government policy of
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra who had called on March 8 for provincial
governors, provincial police commanders including the chiefs of different
government organizations concerned to cooperate in drug elimination for the
second time. He also said that he believes the first plan of the War on
Drugs had been proven very successful.

However, PM Thaksin has asked all officers to assist each other to observe
the communities, educational institutes, dormitories and factories. He also
wants soldiers and police to pursue people on the old blacklists. In
addition, officers should provide more training courses informing villagers
who live along the border area to report when they see drug smuggling. The
governmental policy is for eliminating drug use in Thailand, Suwat
concluded.