THAILAND

GOLDEN TRIANGLE DRUGS OUTPUT RISING

Drugs production and trafficking from Myanmar is increasing rapidly, posing a
serious threat to Thailand and other countries in the region, the Thai army
said.
Speaking on a tour of Thailand's Golden Triangle region, on the borders of
Myanmar and Laos, Thai military officials said the mass relocation of ethnic
minorities within Myanmar over the last year had fuelled a massive increase
in drugs production.

A report by the Thai security agency says that as of May this year,
about 50 methamphetamine factories were newly established inside
Myanmar close to Thai border and 10 others had been set up in Laos
also close to the Thai border.

Each of the factories could produce at least 100,000 tablets of the
drug per day, it said.

''This means that by next year they can produce more than two billion
tablets of Yaba [methamphetamine] which is three times bigger than
last year," a Thai regional army spokesman told reporters at his
hillside camp in Thailand's Chiang Dao district.

''We estimate 1999 output at 600 million tablets," he
said.

The Thai army organised a tour of three separate areas in Thailand's
northern Chiang Mai, Mae Hong Son and Tak provinces this week to
highlight what they say is the growing threat from Myanmar drugs
production and trafficking.

In March, the United Wa State Army, with help from Yangon, began
relocating 50,000 people south from the mainland border to towns in
Myanmar's eastern Shan state.

At the time, Myanmar's military government announced that the mass
relocation plan was to help stamp out opium production by moving
people away from areas where they used to grow poppies.

The UWSA consists of former communist rebels who fought against
Yangon's military government until 1989 but then agreed a ceasefire
with Myanmar's ruling generals.

Yangon says it is fighting hard against the drugs trade and burnt
millions of dollars worth of narcotics in a ceremonial drugs burning
on Friday.

But Thai narcotics and security agencies say the relocation was for
quite a different purpose. They say the aim was to shift drugs
production closer to theBut Thai narcotics and security agencies say
the relocation was for quite a different purpose. They say the aim was
to shift drugs production closer to the Thai border to make use of the
country's better infrastructure for trafficking.

They say the development represents a major threat to the security of
the whole region.

''Myanmar maintains its policy of supporting the various ethnic
minorities living in the areas attached to Thailand which result in a
huge influx of drugs, especially methamphetamine to Thailand," the
army said in its report.

Army officers say Myanmar ethnic minority groups, mainly Wa, Ko Kang
and Muhser hill tribes, have already resettled about 100,000 people in
Mong Yawn and nearby towns in Shan State opposite Thailand's Chiang
Rai, Chiang Mai and Tak provinces.

Many of these groups are actively involved in narcotics trafficking,
they Many of these groups are actively involved in narcotics
trafficking, they say.

''Myanmar ethnic groups, especially Wa, are rapidly increasing drugs
production and supply to Thailand in order to get quick money to build
jungle towns to support their mass relocation plan," a Thai army
spokesman told a news conference on Friday.