TRADERS WANT OPENING OF CHECKPOINT

Exporters want the military to reopen the San Ton Du border checkpoint,
closed two years ago to stem drug smuggling.

Deputy Third Army chief Maj-Gen Chamlong Phothong said the military
disagreed with the need to reopen the crossing. It wanted all temporary
checkpoints in the North closed.

"Exports can still be done through permanent checkpoints like Mae Sai and
the military likes it this way.

"There is no need to open temporary checkpoints. Kiew Pha Wok checkpoint in
Chiang Dao district which remains open is more than enough," he said.

Meanwhile, Thai contractors are suffering after construction projects in the
Yawn and Mai towns of Burma were suspended by rain.

Thai contractors in the two Wa towns will not be paid until their projects
are done.

Samrit Wongtha, owner of a Thai construction firm building a road in Yawn
town, said he had decided to return to Thailand without payment.

"Contractors can't do their jobs. The more it rains, the more easily soil
erodes. More than 300 tractors and backhoes in the town are left unused and
will be there until the rain stops. Many construction firm owners want to go
home but can't do that. I'm lucky that I could come back," he said.
Meanwhile, Aree Naksuk, a Thai contractor imprisoned in Yawn town on fraud
charges, reportedly died in jail in February after suffering a mental
disorder and refusing to eat.

Mr Aree's family in Chiang Mai petitioned the Prime Minister's Office for
help in bringing his body back. - Illicit drug flows have slowed with the
arrest of more than 300 blacklisted dealers in recent months, the minister
overseeing narcotics suppression said.

Most of those arrested in a nationwide crackdown were from the Northeast,
said Jurin Laksanavisit, the PM's Office minister. The narcotics control
board, concerned about the spread of illicit drugs in schools, had set as
its target to make at least half the 40,000 schools nationwide free of
drugs, he said.