DRUG TRADE FLOURISHES IN BORDER VILLAGE

Outward Calm Belies Dark Side Of Peaceful, Easy-Going Community

Ban Ahi, a border village in Tha Li district, looks like any other
farming village in the country. Its inhabitants grow rice, tamarind
and mangoes. The pace of life is easy.

But what makes Ban Ahi different from other northeastern villages is
that some of its inhabitants are conspicuously well off. They have
their own transport, either a car or a pick-up truck, and live in
modern homes.

The village is about 50 km from downtown of Loei.

The outward calm belies a dark side of the community-the trade in
illegal drugs, which has flourished quietly for some time. Ban Ahi is
regarded as a methamphetamine and marijuana haven and for the last
five years a major distribution point for speed pills to all parts of
Thailand, particularly the Northeast.

The pills, locally-known as yah ba, are readily available. Several
villagers peddle the drugs to supplement their income. Some are hired
as couriers by big-time dealers who have good connections with Lao and
Thai drug traders across the border.

Parents make teenagers, and even young children, help deliver the
drugs to their customers outside the village.

Adjacent to Ban Ahi, and across the border, is the Lao province of
Xaiyaburi and the village of Ban Khon Ta Pu.

The Lao village is regarded to be the biggest transit and storage
point for methamphetamine from the Golden Triangle, a notorious area
known to be methamphetamine production base of Southeast Asia.

Over the past few years drug traffickers have shifted their
traditional routes through the north of Thailand to Laos-and then to
Ban Khon Ta Pu and Ban Ahi-to avoid the heavy pressure being applied
by authorities in the North.

Ban Khon Ta Pu is widely known to have the greatest concentration of
cannabis plantations. Most villagers in the area grow marijuana in
mountainous fields. It is their most profitable crop and biggest export.

Thai drug dealers illegally cross a narrow border river, known as the
Huaeng, every day to purchase marijuana for distribution throughout
the country. The marijuana is stored at Ban Ahi, located 9km down a
road in Tha Li district which links the border village to several
others nearby.

Because of the area's notoriety as a "gateway", raids by police,
military and drug suppression agents are frequent. Police also set up
checkpoints on roads leading out to other parts of the country.

Scores of drug dealers have been arrested or killed, but the trade has
not been noticeably affected.

The trade and its repercussions have left scores of children without
parents. Some live with relatives, but many have been forced to
support themselves as best they can.

Pol Col Suthep Khuhawilai, superintendent of Tha Li police station,
said the village has also become a storage point for weapons which
drug traffickers smuggle in from Laos.

Four kamnans of the village were killed by drug gangs using the
smuggled war weapons in the last four years.

It was also possible some politicians were involved in the drug trade,
he said.

Although Ban Ahi is outwardly a close-knit community, the villagers
seem to live individual, separate lives. Possibly they do not trust
each other.

Some houses are hidden behind high fences. Very few residents leave
their doors open during the day.

First-time visitors are immediately spotted and regarded with
suspicion.

With the average education level of youths in the village being
Prathom Suksa 6 or less, their chances of landing a good job in
Bangkok are relatively low. Most of them follow in their parents'
footsteps.

Ramphai Kakaew, a teacher at Ban Ahi community school, said most
pupils go no further than Prathom Suksa 6, and few pursue a higher
education.

He said the school tries to encourage all pupils to continue their
education. Higher learning could help keep them free of drugs, Mr
Ramphai said.

Without a continuing education, many get involved in drug networks.

Students are warned every day to stay away from drugs and from those
addicted to drugs.

"Every corner of the village is full of methamphetamines," he stressed.

For this reason, seven border patrol policemen from Chiang Khan
district were assigned to help develop the community, and especially
anti-drug campaigns.

A police officer said he and his colleagues entered the village about
two years ago. They have had little collaboration from the villagers.

Many understand the dangers of drug abuse, but none dared to lead
campaigns against drugs. They fear for their lives, he said.