THAILAND'S WAR ON DRUGS CLAIMS THE LIVES OF ABOUT 500 PEOPLE IN THREE WEEKS

BANGKOK (AP) - A campaign by authorities in Thailand to root out drugs has
claimed the lives of 484 people over the last three weeks, but most of the
casualties have been due to gangland killings of informants, police said
Saturday.

The government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra launched the campaign
on Feb. 1, vowing to crack down on trafficking of illegal drugs, especially
methamphetamines or speed pills, over the next three months.

But the mounting death toll has prompted charges by human rights groups and
forensic experts that extra-judicial executions are being carried out by or
on behalf of police.

Police spokesman Maj.-Gen. Pongsapat Pongcharoen said Saturday that 22
people have been killed by police in drug-related cases since the campaign
began. Another 462 deaths have been attributed to killings of informants by
drug dealers, he said.

The prime minister defended the killings by police in his weekly radio
address but added that the force also needed to crack down on its own
personnel because some police were involved in trafficking.

"From now on, we have to see that those authorities who are protecting drug
dealers or selling are all caught," Thaksin said Saturday. "At this point,
we have reports that more than 200 officials are involved (in drug dealing)."

Three policemen have been killed and seven injured since the war on drugs
was launched.

According to the latest official statistics, more than 21,000 suspects have
been arrested and charged. Police have also seized almost 8.5 million speed
pills and drug-related assets worth more than 238 million baht, the
equivalent of about $8 million Cda.

A total of 833 persons have met violent deaths in Thailand since the war
began Feb. 1, Pongsapat said, but not all of these from drug-related causes.

The Public Health Ministry estimates that more than three million people
are addicted to drugs, mostly methamphetamines pouring in from neighbouring
Myanmar, also known as Burma.