THAILAND NETS $23.25M DRUG HAUL

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- Naval officials raided two trawlers in the
Andaman Sea and seized heroin and amphetamine pills worth $23.25 million in
one of the biggest drug hauls in Thailand, officials said Monday.

Twenty-two Myanmar and two Thai crew members were arrested during the raid
Sunday off Surin Island 400 miles south of Bangkok, said navy spokesman
Wiroj Navejsuthiporn.

He said 220 pounds of high-grade heroin and 4 million amphetamine pills
were found stashed inside rice bins in the two Thai-registered boats. The
figure could rise when the trawlers are brought ashore and officials open
10 more bins, Wiroj said.

"This is one of the biggest raids in recent years," he said.

Wiroj said the boats were coming from Myanmar toward Thailand, and were
intercepted after authorities received a tip-off.

Myanmar is the world's second-largest source of heroin after Afghanistan
and also has become a leading production center for amphetamines, a
synthetic stimulant. Most of the drugs are trafficked through China and
Thailand to third country destinations.