RANGOON URGED TO FIGHT MENACE

Rangoon's help is needed to combat the drugs menace, says a group of
senators back from a fact-finding mission to the border.

Chairman of the senate foreign affairs panel, Kraisak Choonhavan, said drug
problems in the north were getting worse. Senators visited Chiang Mai and
Chiang Rai.

Senators, he said, would talk to their colleagues about whether to seek
talks with Rangoon. A senate anti-drugs committee could hold talks with
Burmese leaders, Mr Kraisak said.

The Office of the Narcotics Control Board says 80% of drugs smuggled into
Thailand across transit points in the North are methamphetamines.

Northern provinces hardest hit are Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, Mae Hong Son and
Tak.

One million speed pills are made by drug factories in Burmese border areas
every day, it says.

The drugs menace had spread into all but 2% of 14,000 villages in the
North. More than 80% of prisoners in Chiang Rai were drug offenders.

Mr Kraisak said some Thai firms may be involved in Red Wa development
projects in Mong Yawn. The panel would look at the claims, and whether they
helped to launder drug money.